Damned
by she.s.a.shy.one
Summary: Bree Tanner went out for milk one night and never came home. What follows is her own account of her existence after life. This is her story as she survives her first encounter with the Volturi and emerses herself in the Cullen family during their darkest point in Breaking Dawn.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: **So _The Vampiric Existence of Bree Tanner _was boring me. I decided to edit and seperate Bree's story into how she survives through Breaking Dawn and hopefully a second part about what happens years later when the Cullens return. This is _Damned. _I hope you enjoy it._

* * *

**Damned  
**_she.s.  
__**Chapter One**_

* * *

Where I came from, I had a life. It's really as simple as that.

Where I came from, I had a family, friends, pets: the whole shebang. I had an older brother that teased me mercilessly, a father who never called, a mother that never took me seriously.

I had a best friend who was gay, another who was in love with said gay friend even though she was a _she_ and a number of blondettes who liked to trip me up in the corridors while their snickering jock boyfriends laughed. I even had a kitten named Olivia, who liked to scratch my arms like they were lottery tickets.

I was Bree Tanner. Almost sixteen. Average. Obsessive about my books. Straight A-B student.

It wasn't a fantastic life. But it was a life.

And it ended on the 23rd of February, a few days short of my sixteenth birthday.

My existence began about 3 days later, although I was told it was closer to four. My...development, I guess you could say, was a little more complex than average.

I can still remember the agony. I can still remember the burning. Most of all, I remembered the sound of it all, from beginning to end. I will never forget it.

* * *

_There was screaming. I realised later they were mine but it didn't really click until then- all I knew was this total, encompassing pain, a fire that was hotter than the deepest pit of hell. Maybe I was in hell. Maybe that's what this was._

_It would explain a lot._

_I could feel every excruciating crackle of heat as it fried my body, I could _hear _the fires plunging through my veins. My heartbeat felt more it came from clockwork instead of will- it was all mechanical, no longer because I wanted to live. All I wanted was to die. To die and have this wordlessly awful pain end._

_I wondered what I'd done. I wondered why I was in hell, if that's where I was. The thoughts were like the thinnest of covers, a futile attempt to stifle my mind from thinking over the pain. _

_When I dislocated my shoulder when I was ten, Jack asked me about my class homework for the week, wondering if I would have enough to time to finish it with all that was going on. He spoke soothingly, softly, curiously and just when I was also worrying about my school project, he popped the bone back into its socket and the pain ended like he'd snapped his fingers._

_But this was nothing like that. This was more painful than anything anyone could've imagined in their wildest nightmares._

_And there was no stupid older brother Jack to pop the pain away this time._

_How could this have come from milk? I was on my way to the corner store that Ms Evans owned. I was on my way, angry with my mother for sending me out when I was halfway through my new book. I was on my way, following the same route I'd followed for years._

_My memory of it was painfully hectic. A blur of white flesh. A bright orange candle flitting in the darkness. A cautious 'hello?' on my part. A whispered greeting:_

Welcome to the army.

_And then a pain jagged slashing open my shoulder, right through my jumper, cutting flesh and bone and spilling blood on the ground._

_Then the fire came and I writhed, begging for this to be a dream, for this not to be _real_. But it was. Oh, it was so real._

_How could this have happened? I hadn't done anything worth this. I hadn't killed anyone, stolen anything except pens from my friends. Was that stupid priest right? Was it because of Michael? Because I was his friend?_

_Michael was gay. When he'd come out of the famous figurative closet, a small section of our community had freaked out, including his grandmother, a few of the students at our high school and the local clergyman, who told him he would be damned to hell for his sins._

_I refused to believe that though- Michael wasn't evil. He was smart and kind and funny. He'd told the priest that his only hell would be if Johnny Depp stayed straight and he'd been doing that for years._

_But what were my sins? What had I _done? _Could I take it back, withdraw my errors? No matter the cost- I'd do it. I'd do anything. Just to make it all stop. Just to freeze the flames._

_My thoughts were fuzzy around the edges. They did nothing to distract me so I stopped thinking and just waited, writhing, wishing for an end that I was sure would never come. _

_When the fire finally- _finally- _began to seep, it was millimetre by excruciating millimetre._

_I felt it in the very tips of my fingers; closer to the air surrounding my finger tips probably. But even the smallest measure of relief gave me hope that maybe it would end soon._

_The hope was crushed an immeasurable time later when the fire started pooling, leeching its way back to the beginning, to the blood spilling cut on my shoulder. It was a thousand times hotter there and I knew: this was it. It was ending, I was about to die. The end was so close, I could feel dizzying relief mix with the furious pain._

_My heart sped up, frantically trying to release itself, to escape this pain. But then it stumbled and stuttered and suddenly, it was no more. Dying. Dying. Dead._

_At least, I was right about one thing: I died._

It was only a few hours later that I realised what had happened. I awoke, my brain shockingly clear, my body calm and cold and icy, my breath empty and needless. Riley was the first thing I saw. He was so beautiful, it was heartbreaking. I couldn't understand why such an angel had such crimson eyes.

He told me, after a few minutes and precautionary measures to ensure I wouldn't run. I was a vampire. I was fast and strong and pale and beautiful and _undead._

I didn't take the news well at all- the small room I'd been tortured in was tortured in turn, ripped to shreds, tossed like a salad. I screamed and yelled but in the end, I knew the truth. I could sense it, deep in myself. I could _feel _it, the need, the thirst. It tore at me. It ripped my own soul apart like nothing I'd ever experienced.

It was my nature. My very existence now. I was a vampire. And nothing was going to change that.

Not now.

* * *

I met the other newborns soon after that. They were a large group already- at first, I didn't understand why they needed me when I saw how strong and fast all of them were.

"_**I **__caught her, __**I **__get first bite!"_

"_What? Are you kidding? She's mine!"_

"_Screw you, you got first try last time!"_

_There were so many of them. Riley showed me the burnt out pit where the mass of people were staying and left without a second word. They were all beautiful. Frighteningly hauntingly beautiful, the kind of face that appears every time you blink, imprinted behind your eyelids for the rest of your days once you caught sight of it._

_I'd seen my own reflection in the mirror as I had gone to throw it across the room: I was just as beautiful. It made me scared to see my face so changed. I'd always had somewhat of a delicate face but the change made me look even more fine-featured, fairylike almost. I looked older though, more late sixteen than late fifteen and I wondered, if I pushed it, could I possibly stretch it to seventeen?_

_My hair was long and curly and reached down to past my shoulders in dark wisps of black-brown. My skin was smooth and icy and alabaster pale like I'd never been in the sun before, the original golden tan gone. My eyes were glowing. No longer the soft green I was so used to but a very bright, terrible red colour that was the last straw for me. I crushed the mirror to dust in my finger tips._

_The others were raggedly dressed: nothing indecent but there was dirt and rips littering their clothes, like they'd been tearing at each other. Which, as I watched, wasn't such an implausible thought. _

_There were 23 of them altogether. I counted so quickly I surprised myself. I'd never been one for mathematics._

_And each one had a pair of shockingly, horrifyingly bright scarlet eyes. I could see them all so clearly, it almost disorientated me. But not quite._

_The thirst was overwhelming, the dry, raw clawing at my throat drove me over the edge. I could feel my muscles tensing, binding and then suddenly I was across the other side of the pit where a number of the others, the other 'newborns' as Riley had called them, were collected around an unconscious woman, her hair matted and her arms bruised from where they'd grabbed her._

_One of them, a young man with bright red hair, growled at me as I drew near to the circle of bickering vampires but I paid him little interest. Suddenly, there was nothing that filled me but the sound of this woman's blood as it ticked sluggishly around her body._

_It was like I'd just woken up to my subconscious mind: instinct took over and my hazy thoughts were faded as the redhead clawed at me, trying to tell me to back off, collecting the attention of the other three who also hissed. It was clear they all wanted her for themselves but they would protect her together to keep an outsider from their meal._

_It barely registered. I didn't even care. I just struck out, stronger than I'd ever been in my whole life. The redhead collided with my fist and went flying while the others tried to pile on top of me. I gripped one's ankle and tossed her aside, taking the other boy with her. I was so strong, so fast. I could feel my lips pulling back over my teeth, furious and feral. I couldn't control this dark corner of my mind which was desperate to taste, to savour this woman's blood._

_The last threat was a girl, her hair short and blonde, cut just below her ears and tied back in pigtails. She was slim and average sized, maybe a few inches taller than I was. My brain took in all this at an incredible speed and suddenly she was leaping at me, teeth bared, snarling. I growled, shaking her off and ripping at one of her arms and tearing the left limb off her shoulder._

_She hissed, clawing at me with a vengeance. I batted her aside with every ounce of my strength and she flew backwards for a few milliseconds, returning in a crouch, her face screwed up with wrath. We wrestled and finally I tossed her far enough away from me that she hissed but stood away and I fell upon the woman._

_She tasted _heavenly. _I'd never known such a scent, such a flavour, such a sensation. I wanted more. I wanted all of it. I put my lips to her neck, where the ticking of her pulse was the loudest, and, my inner thoughts screaming at me, calling me a monster, sucked her dry._

_Once she was finished, once her heart stuttered its last beats, I pulled away, the thirst finally abating. It felt _so _good, finally for the measure of relief. It was only then that I realised what I'd just done. I'd just killed someone. I'd just drunk from an innocent woman. Attacked other people- _no. _I corrected myself. _Not people. Other monsters.

_I turned, slowly, realising that it was quiet in the pit and realised I had an audience. My eyes whirled around, studying each face to a minute detail in split seconds. Each of them was watching me, studying me themselves, trying to guess at what I would do next. A few faces were angry I'd taken the meal. Another few were warily eying me and the other vampires I'd thrown around. Even more were staring with a sort of sadness about them and I realised there was not one other monster around me who was as young as me._

_They were pitying me._

_I screamed, the weight of what I'd just accomplished falling heavily over my shoulders, crushing me and any kind of conscious I had left. There was an echoed hiss as I flitted away, heaving breaths that were completely pointless, gasping for air, for release from this torment._

_I killed someone. I took a life. And it felt so natural for me, so right, so easy. I was murderer, a killer. I was a monster. A freak._

_I screeched, inhuman and feral and deranged, clawing at the walls of the burnt out once-warehouse pit, the bricks crumbling away beneath my fingers. No one tried to help me. No one tried to come after me as I banished myself to the furthest corner of the tightly enclosed space, burying myself amongst the faded paint-and-brick work._

_Murderer. Killer. Monster. Freak. The words chanted in my mind, parading themselves about, hurling themselves at me._

_I kept flinching, remembering that taste, that wonderful taste which had filled me so completely. That was blood from a daughter. A sister, a mother, a wife, a friend, a _person. _And I'd taken it. I could feel it in my veins- it was thrumming, energizing me. _

_Powering me with the terrible strength I'd used to kill for it._

_I screamed again, wishing something other than these empty breaths would come from me. Tears, gasps, sweat. Anything that would make me a human being again. Anything to remind me of who I was. _

_Nothing came._

* * *

Riley quickly told me of our purpose: we were part of an army, a resistance against a large clan that wished to kill us all. Seattle was their territory and they wanted us all dead and gone so they could have the blood-filled humans to themselves.

He told us all that we were under the command of an unquestionable leader but never told us her name. I wondered then if perhaps it was because if he had, I would've been too tempted to go after her, to tear her apart for making me this way.

I wished he had. I wished she'd died at my own hands. But at the same time, the small part of me that was still partway human was horrified at my own dark wishes. I'd never killed anything before. I'd barely managed to swat flies for God's sakes!

But Riley told us- we would kill or be killed.

He told us it would be easy. Kill the strange Yellow-Eyes coven and we would be fulfilled, given their territory and the blood that came with it. He even brought us a shirt, telling us they carried a human girl around with them, like a pet. That hers was the scent on the red blouse. It was intoxicating: freesias and strawberries and roses blended into a smell that drove me crazy with thirst.

He told us where they were, who they were, speaking of their strange abilities. They had mind readers, future seers and emotion controlling empaths on their side. And ours had the sheer weight of numbers and newborn strength.

Or at least, that was how it appeared. It seemed we were merely average newborns with no particular gifts. Until one day, I heard something no one else had.

* * *

_It had been months since my existence as a vampire began. I was quickly learning how to hunt with the coven's various members, disgusted with my own weakness but unable to refrain from joining the bloodbaths. The smell was too much._

_No one really wanted to talk with me- I think they were all convinced I was a little unstable from my first display in the pit and my exile to the dark, dank warehouse corner for two weeks. That and they were uncomfortable being around someone so young. I knew they didn't think it was right that I was only-a-few-days-off-sixteen going on immortal._

_I was fine with that, strangely. I hated myself for what I did at night but I knew that without it, I would go mad and slaughter far more. I tried to keep to the minimum. I really did. But sometimes, it was impossible to stop at just one or two._

_In the days, when Riley was teaching the others how to fight and kill, I sat in the corner, clutching at my threadbare jacket, wishing I had my mother's arm around me and my brother's smile to keep me company. The idea of them made me want to weep because I knew I could never see them again._

_Jack, my stupid older brother who thought he was so clever, could fix any problem, could save his sister from everything wouldn't be able to shock the human back into me._

_He probably wouldn't want to after he knew what I'd done._

_Being a vampire was confusing because no one seemed willing to give me a clue as to what the deal came with._

_I'd thought perhaps I could kill myself by stepping into the sun but all that had happened was my skin turning to diamonds and throwing bright rainbows across the inside of the warehouse. It horrified me, a clear indicator of how unnatural I was._

_Garlic and crosses and stakes...nothing worked. There were no coffins or graveyards either. I didn't sleep at all._

_I joined in the fighting practise occasionally, to please Riley, who expected us all to be able to hold our own against the enemy coven. It was during the majority of times where I sat out that I met Sara._

_Strangely enough, she was the blonde I'd torn at the first time I'd ever fed. She'd been eyeing me since it'd happened and as much as I tried to ignore it, it didn't work because vampires noticed _everything_. _

_She approached me one day while I flicked my fingers in a stray patch of sunlight, admiring the light as it glimmered on my crystal skin. "So you're Bree huh?"_

_I looked up at her sharply. "Yes."_

_She raised an eyebrow, her eyes very bright and fresh from feeding. "You're young." She finally admitted, sitting beside me._

"_I'm sixteen." I snapped, defensively. It was a half lie. Technically my birthday was a few weeks ago. Actually, it was probably around the time I'd woken up. "You're not much older," I bit back, moodily. I was irritated today. My mood flickered all over the place since the change._

_She shrugged. "I'm nineteen. Or I was. I'm Sara."_

_I nodded once and silence reigned between us for a few moments. I sighed finally. "I'm sorry for ripping your arm off." I grumbled._

_She laughed, beautiful and high pitched. "Oh it was nothing. We regenerate too quick for it to be a problem." She informed me. My interest peaked._

"_What else can we do?" I asked her, softly._

_She shrugged, her blonde pigtails twitching with the actions as she idly watched a brunette vampire- Atham, I think- taken on Riley. He lost miserably. "It's a matter of your past life really. It's our most defining features which we carry on with us. I used to be a dancer so now I'm more graceful than the others and I can bend further before I break. The Yellow Eyes clan have special powers because of their past lives but they were just flukes. Some vampires are just normal: maybe they can run faster or fight better because they were track runners or boxers. But special powers are rarer." She explained._

"_How do you know so much?"_

_She laughed. "I'm almost as old as Riley. I was among the first turned. I used to have a mate who was much older though and he told me about a lot of it. But he died one night, when he went hunting. Riley told me later: it was the Yellow Eyes who killed him." She added on bitterly._

"_I'm sorry."_

"_It's not your fault."_

_I paused, awkward and scratched the ground, carving a circle into the concrete with my nails. "Does anyone here have a power?"_

_Sara glanced at me. "No. It's thought that the Mistress might have one but we can't know exactly. Our thoughts aren't safe." Sara smiled, wryly. _

"_Listen up!" Riley called out, his voice assaulting my sensitive ears. I stood far too quickly and Sara was beside me as we joined the collection surrounding our leader. He eyed us all, his face pleased. "We'll be leaving soon. The Yellow Eyes are already gearing up for war but we're stronger. They've got their little talents but we've got _raw power._" The words rang out through the air as he drew out the red blouse. The scent made my mouth water._

"_They'll have her with them," Riley repeated to us, drilling it through the bloodlust. "Whoever gets to her first can have her. But these Yellow Eyes will try to protect her, protect her blood." I shifted, needlessly but nervous. They sounded old and powerful, these Yellow Eyed vampires. They sounded like they could kill us without even trying. _

"_Don't be afraid," Riley suddenly added, softer. "The Mistress and I are older than you and more skilled. We will help you. We'll be able to defeat them."_

**They won't help you.**

_I glanced up, wondering who had said such blasphemy against our creators. But everyone was still staring at Riley, apprehensive but eager. I frowned. What was that?_

"_We'll protect you."_

**They won't protect you.**

"_We stick together. We will be strong."_

**They won't stick together. **

"_We don't desert our own."_

**They will desert you.**

"_Sara? Did you hear that?" I hissed at her, turning my head every which way, trying to find the source of these thoughts. They weren't mine. There was a suddenly sting of pain on my shoulder, under my bite mark. It had been stinging every now and then since I'd woken. I thought it was totally normal._

_Her brow furrowed. "What?"_

"_I keep hearing things in my head," I explained in such a low voice that no one but her could've heard. "Is that normal?"_

_Before she answered, Riley dismissed us finally and Sara grabbed my arm, tugging me back over to the patch of sunlight away from everyone else. It was beginning to set, bringing in the tempting darkness that allowed us to hunt._

"_What do you keep hearing Bree?" she asked, studying me._

_I bounced on my heels, anxious and jumpy. "I kept hearing little things when Riley was talking. He was saying stuff like..."_

"_Like what?" she urged me, gripping my arms._

_I looked her in the eyes, black to black, the pupils swallowed up by our own thirst. "I kept hearing disagreements. No, not hearing them. I kept _feeling _them. Like...Like they were my own thoughts, like I was thinking 'the sky is blue'...it felt so real...but they weren't my own." I replied, quickly. "Like when Riley said he and the Mistress wouldn't desert their own- I heard that they would."_

_I felt foolish as I said it. We'd been created for this. Why would they leave us? They needed us. Sara shook me, growling. "Riley and the Mistress are our creators."_

"_I know but...I could've sworn..." I whispered and then stopped, wondering if the madness was starting to set in. The feeling of conviction in those thoughts though...it was strangely alien and familiar at the same time..._

_Sara watched me. "What?"_

"_It's not true." I suddenly blurted. I understood it. It wasn't true. "Riley won't take care of us." I muttered, so low no one else but us could hear._

_Sara froze like a statue of a marble, crimson eyed angel. "What are you saying? Of course he will."_

_The muscle on my shoulder, where I was bitten, twitched like it had before. "I heard it in my head. Like it was correcting him. And my shoulder hurts when you say that." I murmured, watching her. "You don't believe that, do you?" Sara watched me, suddenly intense._

"_Bree, tell me what you hear when I say this okay?" I nodded, telling her to continue and she raised a single brow. "My name is Emily St Claire-"_

**My name is Sara O'Neil.**

"_-I lived in Kansas for several years-"_

**I lived in New York for several years.**

"_-and I have brown hair and blue eyes."_

**And I have blonde hair and red eyes.**

_It was like having a voice over echo back the words in my head. My shoulder itched now and I shook my head, relaying back to her what I'd suddenly just _known. _As if it were the same ingrained facts like the sky is blue and the grass green. Sara narrowed her eyes at me. "Are you messing with me Bree? Because I will destroy you if you are." She threatened._

_I shrank back from her, glaring. "What's going on? What is this?" I demanded._

_She studied my face for a lie but found none. My breaths came quicker, instinctively. "You may have a gift after all Bree." She murmured. "I told you lies but you knew the truth."_

"_So what?" I snapped, freaking out. "I'm a vampire polygraph?"_

_She glanced back at the coven who were preparing for the night's hunt. The sun was low in the sky, like a magnet with a too-heavy note sliding down a refrigerator. "Bree, it's important you don't tell anyone about this." She hissed to me, eyes wide. "Who knows what they'd do? Our thoughts aren't safe. You can't know the truth."_

_I nodded, worriedly. "So I'm going to know the truth? Always?" I whispered._

_Sara titled her head to the side and looked out at the setting sun. "It looks like it. Come on Bree, let's go get something to eat and then we'll talk more hmm?"_

_I left it for the moment and tried not to talk to anyone but Sara. I didn't want to correct them on their lies and end up knowing something I shouldn't._

_Vampires, freaky powers, coven wars..._

My life,_ I mused as I waited with some eagerness for the sun to set, _was far more complicated than it should've been.

* * *

My powers were subtle. I practised more and more in the weeks leading up to the war. I spoke to other vampires, asking them about how many others they'd killed or how many humans they'd drained that evening. Things I knew they would overstate, brag about, _lie _about. I asked them what they thought of the war and I was able to weed out the ones who were nervous, the ones who didn't like to fight but wanted the blood too badly.

I stuck to Sara's advice and kept it a secret. In turn, she asked me to ask Riley things and tell her the answers, the _real _answers. It was very strange. Sometimes I heard the words, the truths but other times, there was a mere sting on my bite mark, alerting me to the lies.

To be honest, it was pretty cool. As much as I hated it because it made me even more of a freak, at the same time, I had superpowers. It was like one of my favourite books come to life. All the heroes start off normal in those didn't they?

However there were times when I hated listening to them. Like when I asked Hector if he had a family and his truths told me that yes, he did. He was a mean drunk though and liked to beat them black and blue when he was angry.

I stayed far away from him after that. I managed to glean that Riley and the Mistress were working on another plan but that he was being kept in the dark as well to stop anyone from knowing truly what was going on besides the Mistress. I never asked for the Mistress' name. On some level, I knew that this might be handy but I didn't want to know who had made me this way. Something stopped me from asking every time.

Mostly, I hung around with Sara, who was like a guide for teaching me to fight, to drink, to keep a low profile around the humans, how to lure them out. I managed to mesmerize a boy from inside a cinema and draw him away into the alley outside before I drank him dry.

She took me in, like she was the older sister I'd never had. I found myself surprised but ridiculously glad that there was someone looking out for me even if it was probably because I was so young. If pity love was what I could get, I'd take it.

The night we headed out for Forks, it was Sara who ran with me.

And it was Sara who protected me.

I only wished she hadn't died for it.

* * *

**_A/N: _**_So__that's Bree's first chapter. I promise that these are the last of the flashbacks. Please Review!_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So here's number two. If you like it so far, please review, I'd like at least two before I post the next chapter pleassse...**

* * *

**Damned  
**_she.s. .one  
__**Chapter Two**_

* * *

I saw the posters as I ran, the night we left the warehouse. Riley was leading, directing us along routes he seemed to have ingrained knowledge of. I didn't want to be on the receiving end of his temper so I refrained from asking him if he lived in Forks before all this.

**MISSING  
**_Please help us find…  
…Maria Sanchez_

**MISSING  
**_Looking for…  
…Sara O'Neil…  
…last seen…_

**MISSING  
**_for nine weeks…  
…Patrick Main_

**MISSING  
**_On the watch for…  
…Dominic Truscott  
…tall, blonde…_

**MISSING  
**_Have you seen…?  
Nicholas Dwight_

The parade of missing posters were dotted along the streets, littered on the ground in a multitude of colours. It was horrible to look at, to see all the human faces of my coven that their families had put up around Seattle.

There were a few differences in the pictures, apart from being normal looking. Sara's had a girl that was relatively pretty but her hair was much longer. Maria Sanchez's held two small children in her arms as she smiled with a chip in one tooth. Patrick's face had a bushy beard. Nicholas had coke bottle glasses.

I saw a few that made me cautiously look to the front, to see if he had noticed. An array of bright yellow posters with:

**MISSING  
**_Searching for…  
Riley Biers…  
…Please contact…_

But Riley's face was totally impassive, like he hadn't even noticed the pages. Sara, next to me, hissed at her own and sped up, following the coven on our way to the edge of the forest, where it brushed Seattle's manmade city. I kept my hood up, trying not to look at them but they couldn't be ignored by my vampire-clear eyes.

I froze in place when I saw the bright blue poster taped to a lamp pole.

**MISSING**_  
Please help us…  
…Bree Tanner…  
Beloved daughter and sister…_

The details listed my description, last known whereabouts and places to go for information. My own face was smiling at me, my hair twisted up in a ponytail, my eyes bright, even in black and white, as I smiled for the camera. I remembered that picture. It was the day I won the Limes Award for Literary Accomplishment at my high school. I'd been so proud. So happy.

My mother had hugged me and my brother mussed up my hair. I'd yelled at him, laughing and Sally had shown up beside me with Michael, grinning and congratulating me and telling me how they knew I would do well...

"Bree." My head snapped to attention as Sara put a hand on my arm. Her eyes looked sad. "We gotta go."

I nodded, stiffly and tipping my head to where the rest of the coven where descending into the forest. "I'll meet you in there." I assured her and she darted off without another word.

I continued to stare at my face for a vampiric while (which was about a second or so) and bit my lip, looking around before I flitted into the pool of light surrounding the flyer and yanking it off the pole.

I stuffed it into my jacket before continuing on, catching up with Sara and the rest easily. It was probably wrong of me to pull it down but I felt like this would be my last connection to my life.

Because I wasn't really alive as a vampire. I was just existing. There was a definite difference, I mused as I tore through the forest, ripping apart any trees that tried to get in my way. Sara looked at me as I ran, her face taunt.

"Are you ready?" she asked, zipping in between the greenery. I just nodded, knowing that was the answer she wanted. She didn't want to have to look after me when we were fighting, especially with the three fresh newborns being so aggressive.

Riley had changed them just days before, two boys and a girl who were all roughly seventeen to twenty. I didn't even know their names, I just knew the sound they made before they killed something. These three were wildly aggressive, furious for no reason at all. They'd woken up mere days ago and so far they'd managed to drain fourteen people between them which was strange even for newborns.

Riley thought they were strong enough to be an asset so he hadn't killed them when they killed Rose and Angus in a rage. The boys were much stronger than normal- they were both built like professional wrestlers. The girl was terrifying enough but the boys backed her up unquestioningly. It made me question if perhaps she had a power of her own.

We crossed into Port Angeles after a while and the smell of humans drove me insane with want. Sara had to nudge me a few times to get me to focus although I was easily distracted. They tasted...better here somehow. I didn't understand but I knew I wanted them all and they were in Yellow Eyes territory. No wonder Riley and the Mistress wanted them dead.

They smelt so delicious...a part of me was disgusted but I couldn't help myself- it was like passing an all you can eat buffet while you were starving. I clawed at my palms a few times, snapping myself back into focus, reluctantly.

One little bite...just so good...wouldn't slow us down that much...just a little...As we passed close to the edge of the city, I worked myself into a frenzy and lunged off track, Patrick and Hector following me, equally uncontrolled. We were away from the coven in seconds.

I didn't even notice until I ran into her that someone had jumped in front of me to stop my progress into the blood filled Port Angeles. It was the newborn girl, her eyes wide and childish and glowing red. She sneered. "What do you think you're doing?" she snapped, hissing the words.

I growled. "Move."

Suddenly, she spotted something poking out from my jacket and she yanked it away, cruelly waving it before me. "What's this? Aw, is this little Bree? Missing her pathetic humans?" she mocked.

"Leave it alone!" I yanked it back to my side, stuffing it in my jacket. "What did I ever do to you?" the bloodlust from before was gone now.

"Oh please. I've been watching you. You're so sad- always so careful, always so timid." The girl gripped my shoulders but I threw her off quickly. "We've been given the chance to be gods. And you don't deserve any of it." She continued.

The two boys had suddenly joined us and I could smell smoke from my left.

"What's that smoke?" I hissed, twitching as the smell of smoke and blood mixed curiously.

The boy snarled. "None of your business."

**They burnt Patrick and Hector to pieces.**

The truth stood out brightly in my mind. I gasped, staggering back a few metres in the blink of an eye. "What have you done to them?"

The girl snapped, pouncing on me with a loose shriek and I dodged a fraction of a second before. Too close for comfort. She clawed, bouncing forward and back, her nails flying, her teeth catching my wrist, my neck, my ankle at some point but she was too clumsy in her attacks.

I snapped at her shoulders and managed to rip one of her forearms part way off but I wasn't a fighter like Sara. In a split second, she had me pinned, her newborn strength showing through. She was younger than me. Faster, stronger, more powerful.

I growled at her, baring my teeth but preparing to be ripped to shreds-

When suddenly she wasn't there anymore.

Sara was on the other side of the clearing we'd made with our fighting, tearing at the girl furiously. The boys were faltering for some reason and I tried to see the truth behind their actions, concentrating so hard I felt like my head would've exploded had I been mortal.

**She's charmed them into fighting for her.**

It slipped into place and I realised that Sara wouldn't last very long if the boys came to her aid. I stood, ploughing into one of them with enough force to shatter the Grand Canyon and he went flying, caught off guard.

Sara was winning over the girl but not for long. I grappled with the second vampire, trying to keep him occupied enough. My brain was flying, calculating if there was enough time to call for reinforcements, if the male vampire I'd just thrown would strike back at me or at Sara, if the girl was going to use them as her puppets again.

The vampire male grabbed at my arm and pulled hard. I could feel it- the bones cracked and my skin splintered and split with black ash lines but just when I thought it would come off, a yell from Sara distracted him.

It happened within the time between seconds. One moment, Sara yelled at me to go get Riley, the next the girl had torn her head off with a feral screech and her body collapsed to the ground, empty as Riley burst through the grounds, ripping the girl apart with the help of another vampire.

The two boys went sort of limp for a second, like their strings had been cut. I almost leapt on them for doing this. For helping that vicious girl, for killing Sara.

Sara. Sara who was dead now, for real this time, who was now being burnt to pieces. Because once the head is burnt, Riley had told us, not many vampires can regenerate. Only the oldest can piece themselves back together.

I could only watch for a second before Maria appeared, pushing me back in the direction of the coven, eagerly. "Bree, go. He'll take care of them both." She assured me.

I took one last glance at Sara's broken remains and flitted away, wishing more than anything I could cry for losing the one person I thought understood me.

* * *

The fight sent repercussions among the coven and many of them were angry when Riley returned, one of the strong newborn males in tow. Sara and Angus and Rose and Hector and Patrick...we'd lost too many for the sake of these stupid newborns.

Riley announced that he'd taken care of the problem- the girl and one of the boys who hadn't surrendered to him were both dead and burning along with Sara's remains. He announced that David, the other male, had been under the effects of the girl's charm and as such, was not responsible for what he'd done. He'd pay back his debts by destroying the Cullens with us.

The Cullens. That was the first time I ever heard their name. Before they'd just been Yellow Eyes or 'them'. Now they had a name. I wasn't sure how I felt about it but something in me felt hesitant to kill them now. Because they were actually people now. With a name.

I shook myself off as we walked, slower now, under the water of a large lake that signalled the beginning of Cullen territory. They weren't people, they were still monsters. Except they were monsters like me.

I'd been sticking close with Maria since we'd continued on, making sure that I was as far away from David as possible. I didn't trust myself not to try to kill him and I knew that Riley would end me for that. He was tense- the grounds for the battle were coming up soon.

I still found it odd that I didn't need to breathe. Staying under the water for more than three minutes felt wholly unnatural. My whole body was tense, still in mourning for Sara. I wondered what happened to vampires when they died. Did they go to heaven? Hell? Where was Sara? I felt drained on the inside without her companionship.

My hair floated around me, like black ink poured into the dirty water. I could see everything- the little flecks of dirt, the litter, the fish. My muscles were tightened with anticipation and I could sense every drop of blood within a miles' radius. The closest thing was the fish, the big fat ones that were zipping around my ankles. I grabbed one, watching with mild interest as it tried to escape my pale, iron grip.

I wondered, absently, what it would taste like. I raised the black scaled fish to my mouth and pierced it, sucking it dry within seconds. I gagged afterwards.

It tasted salty and cold, unlike the warm, sweet blood I'd had in Seattle. I let the fish's carcass float away from my hands. Definitely not something to try again.

Finally, we arrived.

We followed Riley up the muddy underwater slope and almost immediately, the smell overtook me. It was incredible and ten times as attractive as what had come from the blouse. Riley stopped us before we could run.

"I'm going with the Mistress to get around the side, drive them out so it will be easier to attack," he informed us. Suddenly, my shoulder throbbed like it always did around lies. I frowned, trying to see through to the truth but my heart wasn't in it. My head wouldn't focus. "Split up, take one from the east. Follow the scent and attack like we've practised. And then we'll have all the territory from Seattle to Forks. Whoever finds the girl first can have her."

I spotted a flitting shadow as it progressed through the forest ahead, with bright orange hair like flickering flames. Something snapped in my memory. A candle in the shadows. I'd seen those flames before. The night I stopped living.

My lips pulled back in a silent snarl and I could see Maria doing the same. She'd seen it too. She'd made the connection. Our Mistress. Our creator. Our own destructor.

But before I could leap and claw at the hideous creature that made me this way, she disappeared with Riley close behind and Molly, Riley's second in command, took over our group, pointing over to our right. "That way." She hissed, the words mutilated and writhing. I took step forward and realised what she meant- there was the smell of spilled blood ahead that smelled divine.

We took off like a flock of birds takes off- chaotic and random but with a subtle pattern to it. I pressed my face to a tree, pausing for a second. My mouth watered as I took in the small red smear on the plant.

Blood.

Human blood.

Better than any I'd ever tasted before in my existence.

I sped up, desperate to have more, unwilling to share with anyone else.

The light became brighter and suddenly the woods spilled out into a bright green field, dotted with rocky outcrops and dusted with soft yellow flowers. They were waiting for us.

There were six of them. Three females, three males, of varying heights and colours. There was a woman with caramel coloured hair and a soft face while the other two were at opposite lengths of the spectrum: a tall, statuesque blonde bombshell that I would've hated had I been human and a tiny, sprite-like girl with cropped, inky black hair and fine features.

The males were just as varied. There was an enormous vampire with dark curly locks and a terrifying expression standing close to the blonde while the other two were blonde, one a little older than the other with a kinder face. The last male vampire was horrifying. He stood near the pixie-girl, his skin glistening with the bites of other vampires. His entire presence here meant he'd survived these attacks and probably killed them in the process which was a petrifying thought.

I knew it was them from the only characteristic they shared: bright, golden eyes.

These were the Yellow Eyes clan.

I took in all this within moments of first stepping into the clearing- it was mere fractions of a fragile second before our Seattle coven descended, furious and bloodthirsty upon discovering the source of the tasty smell wasn't here.

My nerves were frayed from Riley's lying and it made me hesitate, draw back from the complete chaos that had erupted from between the two groups.

It was clear that they were much older: they fought quickly and cleverly in ways we'd never even seen before. The first to die was Molly, who screamed as they tore her apart and tossed her on a pit of dry leaves gathered toward the centre. I knew what was going to happen before they even moved.

The blonde, wise-looking one threw a silver lighter on the pit and it flared up into a bonfire, metres taller than anything we'd started in Seattle.

They knew what they were doing.

It was like the world was ending- screaming, yelling, snarls, hisses, dismembered bodies, limbs ripping off, bite marks, clawing, lashing, snapping...I couldn't see how many were left. Somehow, I just knew that numbers wouldn't save us.

Suddenly there was someone before me: the short, pixie girl with yellow eyes. I snarled, pouncing without a second thought but she dodged at the last second and flung me into a nearby tree. I recovered and clawed at her wildly, my brain totally clouded by the whirlwind tearing its way through me.

Where was Riley? What was the Mistress? How were they so well prepared? Who was that, there, screaming? Who else had died? Why did he lie? What was the truth? What would've happened if Sara was here? Was David living up to his deal? Or was he hiding like I had just been doing? Was the blood here? Where was it?

I screamed again, suddenly catching her in the side and tossing her across the field, following rapidly. She was on her feet before I could try again and she snapped at me, grazing my neck but not quite puncturing it. I growled, suddenly furious.

Why did this happen? Why was I here? Who was this creature to think she could destroy me? I would rip her apart. I would tear her to _pieces._ My teeth ripped the icy skin of her upper arm through her shirt and she snarled: "That was _Gucci_."

In a flash, she had me pinned but just as quickly I had wrapped my arms around her back like I was giving her a hug, squeezing her tighter and tighter, releasing everything I had into the attack: my confusion over Riley's lies, my disgust at myself, my mourning of my old life, my anger at being this way, my sadness over Sara's death.

She gasped, flinging her limbs out wildly as I pulled and pulled and pulled-

There was a sharp pain in my back and I was suddenly flying through the air, falling fast onto the top of a rocky mound, leaving a Bree-shaped dent in the rock and looking up in time to see the wolves. A pack of them, huge and furry and terrifying flooded the field, roaring at my coven, tearing us to pieces. _Helping _the Yellow Eyes.

I screamed when one of them raced past me and crawled away, feeling as though my heart should be pounding.

It was all so fast, all so hectic, so frantic. I looked around, my eyes watching the surrounding edges of the clearing. Where was Riley? Where was the Mistress? Why weren't they here? Were they already dead?

I felt like I should be collapsing. I couldn't take it all in. Nothing made sense. The pixie girl was suddenly back with a vengeance, lashing out at me, trying to take hold. I followed her lead, flinching away from the punches, dodging them at a speed too quick to follow without an immortal eye.

I didn't want to fight. Nothing was worth this. Not all the blood in the world was worth this feeling of total overwhelming. It was crushing me. Where was Sara? Where was Riley? Where was Jack, Michael, Sally? Where was my family?

Why was I even here?

I lost focus and the pixie girl's fingers scraped my arm, leaving ashy cracked lines that peeled over in moments. I cried out though as it stung, so sick of treading water and still drowning. _So why was I? _Maybe I should stop dodging. Let her throw me away, onto the pile of burning remains...

But the pixie didn't go for the kill.

She froze suddenly, her face lovely but blank. "Carlisle?" she trilled, confusingly as I stood before her, unmoving. _Kill me. Get it done with. Let me just burn..._

Suddenly there were another two vampires, the two blonde males, the one with the scars and the one who had lit the fire. "Alice? What's wrong?" The scarred one asked, glaring at me, stepping forward to kill me. Even though it was what I wanted, I still staggered back in fear.

The girl whispered something to them that made their expressions turn carefully neutral. I felt a wave of calm flow over me that couldn't have been natural. _They had mind readers, future seers and emotion controlling empaths on their side..._one of these three was an empath then.

"Do you surrender young one? You are losing ground in this battle." One of them asked and I took in his slightly older face and calm, intelligent but sombre tone.

I couldn't do anything but stare. His eyes were so bright, so gold. It was strange, abnormal. How were they so gold? How did they survive here without causing suspicion among the humans?

"Carlisle, this is pointless, just kill her and get it done with." The scarred one snapped, growling at me. I hissed back, instinctively.

"She just stopped fighting Jazz, there's something different with her. She doesn't want to be here, she wanted me to kill her." The pixie girl whispered to him but he slipped a little lower into a crouch in response.

The clever one was still watching me. "I don't want to kill you. If you exercise your restraint and you may live."

There was no throbbing. What he said was the truth; I may live if I controlled myself. Riley said they kept the human girl because they were fond of her. They were protecting her. I had to control myself. Restrain from trying to kill her.

But did I even want to keep going?

The question was loaded but I thought it over. If I lived past this battle, if I made it out...I could do something else than this constant fighting. I could leave these battles which filled my vampiric existence, go out on my own. I could travel maybe, do anything. I wouldn't have to have Riley ordering me around, I wouldn't have Sara's memory haunting me. If I left Seattle, there would be no more of the **MISSING **posters.

Slowly, I nodded at him, eyes wide as they took in the scene behind the three yellow eyes. We _were _losing. I watched as Maria's body was thrown into the fire, missing an arm and both her legs. She was still screaming.

It ended quickly after that.

I seemed to have been among the last of us left- after Nicholas was thrown on the pit by the huge vampire, it was over, all gone. The field no longer held a vision from nightmares. It was as peaceful as it had been when we'd arrived. I shuddered when I thought about all of them, burned and charred in the bonfire.

Then there it was.

A flicker by the edge of the clearing, of pale skin and suddenly David exploded from the bushes, his arms wrapped tightly around a slim grey wolf who yowled in pain as he began to crush it. The vampires deserted me and I fell to my knees beside the flames, watching in complete panic as a dark red wolf leapt in to take its place and howled in agony as David's unbridled strength was released onto it.

I heard a multitude of _cracks! _and _snaps! _before a jet black blur pounced in and ripped David apart right in front of me, tossing him onto the fire.

In a sick way, it felt like justice for Sara and I watched him burn without remorse.

The scarred vampire's head twitched in curiosity toward me and he bared his teeth at me. "If you do _anything _to harm Bella, I'll rip to shreds myself." He threatened, looking like an angel of destruction. I curled up in a ball, my arms locked around my legs as I shook, fearful.

Because I knew it was the truth.

There were a few minutes of tension between them all although I didn't fully understand it until I saw the wolf gradually morph into a human shape of a boy, at least twenty years old with dark russet skin and short black hair. He howled with pain while I stared with enormous eyes at the werewolf before me.

The wise one raced to his side as the other wolves became human as well, exchanging heated words amongst the vampires. Finally, the blonde was allowed to treat the boy, quickly setting bones and bandaging the wounds with white gauze I didn't notice he'd had.

It was strange- although he spilled blood, I didn't want him at all. In fact, the opposite: it disgusted me, the smell of wet dogs and garbage thrown into a blender together.

The pixie girl went still suddenly and the scarred one, "Jazz" came to her side. "Alice? What do you see?"

"They're coming. The Volturi are coming." She whispered, fearful.

I frowned, confused at their evident panic as the wise one sent the wolves back into the forest, carrying their injured friend and the other vampires stilled, hissing amongst themselves, occasionally throwing glances back at me.

I caught snippets of their conversation:

"_...wonderful timing..."_

"_...see Bella..."_

"_...still human..."_

"_...what about..."_

"_...surrendered..."_

"_...kidding me..."_

But none of it made sense.

Suddenly, there was another vampire in the clearing.

And a human.

I forced myself to remember the wise one's words: "_If you exercise your restraint and you may live..." _and how I'd felt the truth in it. I needed to keep my thirst under control. I tried to think of the wolves' smell, of wet dog and garbage men and the taste of that awful fish...

But it was impossible to drown out that ridiculously sweet smell.

She was unconscious, her breathing shallow and the vampire that held her looked panicked. He ran his hands through his bronze hair as soon as he let her down on the ground and the wise one checked her over, like a doctor.

I just studied her unconscious form: she was slender, pale, brunette and blushing despite the cold. The pooling blood made my mouth water and I hooked my fingers into the dirt to stop myself. _Think Bree, think about it..._

I could smell it from here- the tick of her frail heart, the pulse of her divine blood...

_Think. Don't do it. Stop._

I caught myself trying to get up and gripped myself tighter. I couldn't focus. One second she was asleep, the next she was awake, asking after someone called Jacob. The short pulls and ticks of my attention was driving me crazy. I kept darting my eyes from one vampiric figure to another.

The scarred one was beside me again, yanking my arm, pulling it over to their side of the massive fire although I wished he would drag me _away _from the girl. He snarled at me as I pulled up more grass, whimpering to myself.

It was agony. Excruciating flames coursed down my throat like liquid fire. _One bite...no!...stop that...just a taste...cut it __**out **__Bree!_

The girl's eyes cut to me and I could see the horror in them. I yanked at my hair to divert my attention from the way the blood drained from her face...

"She surrendered," the bronze haired male told her, softly. The mind reader. That must be him. "That's one I've never seen before. Only Carlisle would think of offering. Jasper doesn't approve."

They spoke for a moment or two but I didn't follow the conversation. I was too busy watching the blood seep through the bandage on her arm. It was intoxicating. _A tiny taste..._

I threw back my head and screamed, feral and deranged among the flames.

Scars growled at me, crouching slightly and the thought of being attacked by this horrible, powerful vampire made me cringe away, digging my hands back into the ground. The mind reader turned to protect the human girl just as the wise one, Carlisle, appeared beside Scars.

"Have you changed your mind, young one?" Carlisle asked, calmly. "We don't want to destroy you, but we will if you can't control yourself."

"How can you stand it?" I moaned, astonished at their control. My eyes cut to the girl again. "I _**want **_her."

"You must stand it," he replied, sombre. "You must exercise control. It is possible, and it is the only thing that will save you now."

"Shouldn't we move away from her?" the words were low and clear and lovely. My lips pulled back over my teeth when I heard that voice, the one I could have screaming as I drank from her...

Her eyes studied me for a long while and I stared back, wondering why she was here with all these vampires. What drove her to torment them all so badly?

Suddenly they moved back, converging all around the girl and I could hear footsteps, light and floating as they descended upon us. The smoke became blacker after a moment and I heard the light apathetic humming of the unknown vampire.

"Welcome Jane." The mind reader greeted.


	3. Chapter 3

**Damned  
**_she.s. .one  
__**Chapter Three**_

"I don't understand." The first vampire stepped forwards and I felt my face crumple. She was young, even younger than me. Her crimson-black gaze lingered over each of the yellow eyes and fell on me, somewhat curiously.

"She has surrendered." The mind reader interjected, calmly.

"Surrendered?" _Four vampires, _I noted as two of the huge males exchanged a glance.

"Carlisle gave her the option." The mind reader shrugged.

"There are no options for those that break the rules." She intoned. I frowned. What rules? Who were these people? Why were they dressed like that? With the dark cloaks and flat expressions...

"That's in your hands. As long as she was willing to halt her attack on us, I saw no need to destroy her. She was never taught." The wise one interrupted, mildly. Never taught? Never taught what? Riley taught me to fight and to hunt? What else was there?

"That is irrelevant."

"As you wish." The angelic looking girl looked almost suspicious at his compliance.

"Aro hoped that we would get far enough west to see you Carlisle. He sends his regards." The onslaught of words and names I didn't know couldn't hold my attention. My eyes kept twitching back to the human.

"...appears you've done our work for us today...for the most part." The girl's eyes lingered on me. "Just out of professional curiosity, how many were there? They left quite a wake in Seattle."

"Eighteen, including this one."

"Eighteen?" her voice held some bafflement.

"All brand-new," Carlisle said, dismissively. "They were unskilled."

"All? Then who was their creator?"

"Her name was Victoria."

That was the truth, I knew it even as the mind reader said it. Victoria. I was brought here on the whim of a vampire named Victoria. The flaming haired Victoria. Our Mistress Victoria...

"Was?" My ears listened intently for the response. "This Victoria- she was in addition to the eighteen here?"

The mind reader answered, his voice totally blank. "Yes. She had only one other with her. He was not as young as this one here, but no older than a year."

"Twenty. Who dealt with the creator?" the little girl eyed him, as if she were trying to decide if he were telling the truth. She need not have, I thought, tiredly. He was telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Riley had left us. Gone after the girl with the Mistress. Deserted us.

It really was the truth.

"I did." The mind reader suddenly answered and I felt...jealous. Jealous that he'd been able to end the life I so desperately wanted to annihilate myself.

"You there," the girl turned on me, glaring. I stared back, uncomprehending of her, why everyone was so wary of her. She was just a little girl..."Your name."

_She didn't deserve it. _I glared, keeping my lips tightly pressed together.

She smiled and suddenly, every part of my body was alive and writhing, tortured and twisted with this insatiable fire. I vaguely remembered screaming but it gave no relief. There was just this pain- nothing else. _Make it stop...please...let this end..._It was agonizing-a hotter, quicker burn that my change but something almost as awful.

"Your name." The pain suddenly ended and I gasped, trying desperately to draw the cool air back into my aching limbs. The girl looked as if she were expecting an answer.

Not ready to submit myself to that kind of pain again, I answered, raggedly. "Bree."

"She'll tell you anything you want to know. You don't have to do that." The mind reader gritted his teeth, his body tensed around the human girl.

"Oh, I know." She smiled, beautifully. Her face was so lovely. I wondered how so much pain could've come from it. She turned back to me and I flinched. "Bree, is his story true? Were there twenty of you?"

"Nineteen or twenty, maybe more, I don't know!" I wheezed, scrambling to think back through the lasting ache. There was twenty three...then Patrick and Hector and the other newborn male died..."Sara and the one whose name I don't know got in a fight on the way here..."

"And this Victoria- did she create you?" she pressed on, merciless.

"I don't know. Riley never said her name. I didn't see that night...it was so dark and it hurt... he didn't want us to be able to think of her. He said that our thoughts weren't safe..." I shuddered.

"Tell me about Riley," the girl continued. "Why did he bring you here?"

_To kill us all off as a distraction apparently..._

"Riley told us that we had to destroy the strange yellow eyes here. He said it would be easy. He said that the city was theirs and they were coming to get us. He said once they were gone, all the blood would be ours. He gave us her scent. He said we would know that we had the right coven, because she would be with them. He said whoever got to her first could have her." My eyes drifted over to the girl, my ears focusing in on the steady if not slightly quick tap of her pulse under skin.

"It looks like Riley was wrong about the easy part," the girl observed.

I sat up a little, realising I had sprawled myself on my back during the attack. "I don't know what happened. We split up but the others never came. And Riley left us and he didn't come to help like he promised. And then it was so confusing, and everybody was in pieces. I was afraid. I wanted to run away. That one," I pointed to Carlisle, wondering for the first time, if he was right in sparing me, "-said they wouldn't hurt me if I stopped fighting."

The girl's face softened marginally but something in her eyes turned absent, as if she were thinking of something sad from her memory. "Ah, but that wasn't his gift to offer, young one, broken rules demand a consequence."

_What rules? There are rules? Like what? _"Are you sure you got all of them? The other half that split off?" she demanded of the yellow eyes clan. The tall blonde was watching her with an irritated expression.

"We split up too." Carlisle replied.

The girl paused. "I can't deny that I'm impressed. I've never seen a coven escape this magnitude of offensive intact. Do you know what was behind it? It seems like extreme behaviour, considering the way you live here. And why was the girl the key?"

"Victoria held a grudge against Bella."

I frowned. This was the first I'd heard of the Mistress' dislike against the human. I peered at the mind reader, the one who'd spoken and pushed my brain, striving to see the truth in his words.

**He killed her mate. She wanted to do the same to him.**

The feeling of conviction nearly made me stagger back, my head whirling. Victoria had a mate? Who was dead? Had Riley known? I'd figured out that he felt intimate toward the Mistress...had she told him? And Victoria wanted to kill the human girl? Why? Because she was the mind reader's mate. I almost gagged. She was _human. _How did they- why did she- was it even _possible?_

"This one seems to bring out bizarrely strong reactions in our kind." The little torturer noted, lightly. Her gaze sharpened on Bella and the mind reader let out a low snarl.

"Would you please not do that?" he ground out.

"Just checking. No harm done apparently." She laughed.

**She's immune to their powers. **

How strange. How envious. That human girl would never be at the mercy of the torturer or the mind reader or any other painful gift. I wondered if the future seer or the empath worked on her. I wondered if I could still dig out the truth from her.

"Well it appears that there's not much left for us to do. Odd, we're not used to being rendered unnecessary. It's too bad we missed the fight. It sounds like it would have been entertaining to watch." The girl continued, idly. Rendered unnecessary. These were the people in charge of cleaning up these battles? I shrank further away, unintentionally closer to the flames.

"Yes," the mind reader agreed before adding on, in a bitter tone. "And you were so close. It's a shame you didn't arrive just a half hour earlier. Perhaps then you could have fulfilled your purpose here."

"Yes." The torturer mimicked him, her face composed in a pale mask. "Quite a pity how things turned out, isn't it?" She turned suddenly to the enormous vampire on her left. "Felix?"

"Wait." The mind reader interrupted. She raised an eyebrow. "We could explain the rules to the young one. She doesn't seem unwilling to learn. She didn't know what she was doing." Why were they standing up for me? Because I stopped? I looked at them, baffled. What purpose did keeping me alive serve?

"Of course. We would certainly be prepared to take responsibility for Bree." Carlisle added, glancing at him.

"We don't make exceptions. And we don't give second chances. Which reminds me...Caius will be _so_ interested to hear that you're still human, Bella. Perhaps he'll decide to visit." My eyebrows raised. She was going to become a vampire? Was she insane? Who was Caius?

The sprite-like girl who had fought me before answered this time. "The date is set. Perhaps we'll come visit you in a few months."

The girl's mouth was set in thin line. "The girl has broken the rules. Punishments must be dealt." She insisted but there was something else in her tone. Another agenda.

"We would take responsibility for her, Jane, teach her how to hunt and live appropriately." Carlisle replied but his tone was neutral. I realised he was making it appear that it mattered not either way. Or at least I hoped that was it.

Jane eyed him, speculatively. "We will spare her then," she said after a long while. "It appears your coven has gained another member Carlisle."

**She wants me to screw up. She wants an excuse to destroy the Cullens.**

The thoughts were bright and painful and I almost crawled into the fire as Jane threw her gaze on to me again. "But be warned- the Volturi do not give second chances often. You've been privileged to have two for the human and now the newborn. Take heed Carlisle," she watched him, coolly. "Two newborns are not something to be taken lightly."

He inclined his head to her and without another word, she flitted back into the forest, three dark shadows following her eagerly.

There was no time wasted.

Suddenly Scars was back, hovering over me with a frighteningly dangerous expression and I felt myself shaking with the truth emanating from him.

**He wanted me dead.**

"Jasper, stop scaring her like that." A new voice, one I hadn't heard before, scolded him and the adult female, with the long caramel coloured hair, appeared, her face wary but kind. "Can't you see she's terrified?"

"Esme, she's too young. She can't be trusted." He grumbled backing off a tiny fraction. The little pixie girl sprinted to his side, her arm wrapped around his.

"I don't see her doing anything. She's too confused at the moment, I think." She interjected and slipped into a crouch beside me, earning a hiss from Scars. "Bree right? I'm Alice. This Esme and Jasper." She introduced the other two.

I flinched when the woman tried to put a hand out to me. I didn't understand. Why did they want me alive? For another army? "Why did you stop them? From killing me?" I whispered, my muscles tensed.

She pursed her lips. "Because you're young. And you were made by someone who didn't bother to teach you." She answered, cryptically.

"Teach me what?" I asked, curious. _How to fight? How to hurt? How to hunt? How to run?_

"How to be inconspicuous." She replied. I frowned. We were meant to learn that? "There's a reason why people think we're myths. We have to stay in the shadows, hide ourselves. The Volturi usually kill those who don't cover their tracks. It's why they were going to kill all of you in Seattle." She explained, her voice high and soft.

"They want me to do something wrong." I murmured to her, feeling as though she should know what I'd gathered from Jane. "So they can destroy you all."

Her eyes widened a fraction, unsurprised at their agenda but surprised at my knowledge of it. "Well then we'll have to make sure you don't screw up hmm?" she simply said and tugged on my arm, ignoring Scars as he hovered around.

"Alice, be careful." He stressed, tensely. I tried not to meet his piercing look. "She's dangerous."

_Dangerous. Monster. Freak. Killer. Murderer. _The words were just proven to me as I stood and twitched a fraction in the direction of the human as she and the mind reader fled from the field. Yes, I was all of that.

"Are you going to fight again?" I asked as Alice guided me further toward the main coven.

She threw me a strange look. "What do you mean 'fight again'?"

"That's what we do." I retorted, immediately. "Riley told us. Vampires fight. For territory."

Alice exchanged a glance with Esme, whose face was suddenly very sad. "Oh no, child," she said, her voice kind and motherly. "No. Not all vampires fight all the time. We live here, permanently."

My face screwed up. "I don't understand."

Scars and the enormous vampire that had killed Maria exchanged glances as Carlisle stepped forward, carefully putting one hand on my shoulder. "You were created as part of an army young one." He explained. "Newborns are very strong. That's why you were changed. But this is a tactic that only few vampires use when they want to attack. It's been used in territorial feuds before. But Victoria was only trying to get to Bella-"

"Because the mind reader killed her mate." I finished, automatically. He stopped, looking interested.

"You knew more than you told the Volturi?"

I shook my head, suddenly quiet. Should I tell them of my gift? Should I share it with them, something I'd only told Sara. They would be the only people in the world who knew if I did...Would they try to kill me like Riley would've?

"I can see the truth. When that...demon thing," I growled at the thought of Jane. "mentioned it- I saw the truth of why the Mistress was after the human girl."

Carlisle watched me, closely. "So you can tell when someone is lying?" he clarified. I nodded in response.

"My shoulder hurts. When they lie. And sometimes I can...kind of sense the truth, in my head." I felt shy and worried. Would they kill me now? "That's how I knew Riley was lying about coming back to help us."

"Then you'll understand when I tell you how we live here." Carlisle said after a pause. "We don't have red eyes like you do, as I'm sure you've noticed. Rosalie, Emmet, Jasper, Esme, Alice, Edward and I, we don't drink human blood like you have for the past few months."

I frowned, my brow furrowing. "That's not possible."

"On the contrary, it is. We, as a family, drink the blood of animals. We don't hunt people. In return, it turns our eyes gold rather than red."

I went very still, trying to dissect the lies from any of them. They stood around me in a loose semi-circle, faces composed but intimidating. There was nothing. It was all truth. "You're not lying." I whispered.

"No, we're not. The Volturi have allowed you to live with us, under the impression that we can teach you to hunt appropriately. While they drink human blood, they cover their tracks, tie up loose ends, make the person disappear. We on the other hand, drink from animals and integrate in regular society. My children go to school, I work in a hospital."

"How do you stand it?" I asked, horrified. Day in and day out of injuries and blood wafting through corridors and never being able to taste...

"It has not been without its difficulties." He admitted. "But we have all made the effort to control ourselves. To retain our own humanity."

_Humanity. _I'd thought it was lost. But these vampires didn't kill. They survived and lived and loved and passed themselves off as humans. They didn't hide in the shadows. They didn't murder. They weren't perfect. But they were as close to human as they possibly could be.

"You can live like that?" I murmured, staring down at my hands, crusted with muddy soil.

"If you wish to remain with us, you will have to commit yourself as well. This lifestyle is difficult Bree. But worthwhile, in the end."

I took a deep breath, slowly nodding. "I want that. I don't want to kill anymore."

Alice slipped an arm around my waist. "Well then, welcome to the family."

I remembered my last moments as a human: _a whispered _Welcome to the Army _before the pain in my shoulder._

I couldn't help but compare the two. Two new beginnings. One change from human to monster. And now another one I hadn't expected.

-''-''-''-

It was hard at first.

The first few weeks, I spent in the Cullens' house with items of Bella's or other human's clothing, holed up in my room, trying to adjust to the smell without hunting it.

I had Jasper and Alice to keep me company almost all of the time. Mainly because Jasper didn't trust me not go running off the second I was left alone. Bella stayed away from the Cullens house, coming only when I was out hunting.

No one wanted to take any chances with her.

Strangely enough, the people that had welcomed me the most were Emmett, Alice and Esme. Emmett took my newborn strength as a kind of challenge and he had this personality that was infectiously cheerful. Like they'd bottled an eight year old inside his nineteen year old frozen form.

He was probably the one that I connected to easiest- he acted like a kid. It was the first time I'd had a young vampire for company. And I had entirely too much fun beating him in wrestling competitions in the yard.

Alice was one who was totally comfortable in my presence. She could see the future and as such, she could tell when if I was about to get out of control. Which meant she didn't have to worry about the rest of the time. She reminded me, inevitably of Sally, my human best friend.

But if Alice reminded me of Sally, Esme was a dead ringer for my mother. There was just something about her. She seemed totally in her element of mother vampire for the Cullens- she loved her 'children' and Carlisle loved her. I had no doubt that she would've made a wonderful mother had she been human.

It made me ache when I thought of my own mom. I missed her like crazy- I missed her smile, her hands, her laugh. I missed the way she'd tear up whenever she was proud, I missed how she always laughed at the end of Jurassic Park, to hide how freaked out the movie made her. I even missed how she irritated me, how she yelled at me for not hanging my coat up in the closet and letting the rainy weather-suffering jacket drench her sofa.

Mira. Her name was Mira Luckett, although that was her maiden name and Jack and I shared our father's last name, Jackson Tanner.

I didn't miss him as much, I admitted. Our father didn't really know how to handle responsibility. Therefore, he ran when the going got tough and when I was born, the ride got bumpy. I used to blame myself for driving him away, for limiting our exchanges to phone calls on the weekends and e-mails about his new job in Manhattan and his trashy bimbo wife Carla.

Truthfully, it was my mother and Jack whom I wanted the most. They were my family. I loved them. But I knew I would never see them again. I was too dangerous to be around now.

It was one afternoon almost two weeks after the battle that this fact hit me hardest.

I'd been outside, with Esme, trying to perfect my control over my strength by gardening with her. The saplings were frail enough- one little twitch of my fingers and they tore and crumbled in my hand. I growled as the fifth sapling disintegrating in the middle of Esme's story.

She patted my hand, sympathetically and passed another petunia flower to me. "Try again sweetheart, it's difficult at first but you're learning quickly." She murmured, praising me where I didn't deserve it. I tried not to look at her, knowing her face, specifically the curls in her hair, would remind me of my own mother, whose hair was long and-

I frowned, trying to call the image of my mother's face to memory again. And again. And again. I sat back on my heels, cradling the petunia between my fingers. Mira Luckett. Who had long hair that was long and...curly? Blonde? Brunette? Dark? Red?

Esme watched me carefully as I sat still, trying with determination to recall my mother's hair colour. To remember the feel of it in my fingers, the way it brushed my cheek when she leaned down to kiss me goodnight...

Nothing came.

"Bree? Are you alright?" she murmured after a few minutes. I shook my head slowly.

"I think I'm going to go to my room." I murmured back, not quite knowing how I felt about my fading memories. Why were they so dark? Should I be happy that they wouldn't torment me now? Should I be sad that they were no longer part of me?

I sat down on the soft white couch I'd bought with Alice when the day had come to design my new bedroom. Not that I would sleep in it but it would be a little space for me to relax at the end of each day. No bed of course but a couch, a desk, a library of books and CDs.

Alice had demanded the walls be green- light foresty green with yellow-gold swirls decorating the tops and bottoms and highlighting a few parts of the pressed metal ceiling. It was beautiful and tasteful and I enjoyed the colour- it reminded me of my eye colour before I'd changed.

I took a short glimpse in the mirror as I sat down, the quiet movement of the rest of the house reaching my ears as I did. Esme had come back inside and was telling Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and Carlisle about my hasty exit from the garden. They were geared up for a hunting trip, for everyone except Edward (who couldn't bear to leave Bella alone for too long) and Alice (who desperately wanted to show Bella her wedding dress). The fact that the pair were getting married astounded me.

I couldn't help but blanch when I thought about the torment Edward must have to endure to be...intimate, with her. Nor could I see why Bella would want someone dead when, for all intents and purposes, she had a number of willing humans and even a willing mutt to fill in the job.

Carlisle had told me about the wolves, the ones that had overflowed onto the field, slaughtering my old coven in that battle. They were our allies apparently- they were Quileute shapeshifters who became wolves to protect their tribe.

I had accepted the Cullens as people, as civilised vampires, despite what they had done to my old coven. But the smell and animosity of the wolves toward me was too much. I couldn't stand them. They just frustrated me. Not to mention, one of them had been trying to sway Bella to remain human and love him for almost a year now.

As difficult as it was to know Edward, considering how paranoid he was around me, I knew he was fundamentally good. A hundred times better than me. And I knew he deserved his happiness wherever he found it. If that was with Bella, then my hatred toward the mongrel trying to take her strengthened tenfold.

I studied my reflection for a second. My face was cleaner than it had been in Seattle. There were no grimy conditions or constant blood baths to stain my skin. My hair was shinier, tied back in a loose braid down my back, dark and soft, and my eyes were very slowly beginning the transition to amber.

I walked to the closet that Alice had taken it upon herself to purchase and ran my hands along the fabric of my old jacket, the one that I'd been changed in. It was grimy and sweaty but it reminded me of all the bad times so I wouldn't let Alice toss it. I dug my hand into the pocket and withdrew the crumpled blue flyer.

**MISSING  
**_Please help us…  
…Bree Tanner…  
Beloved daughter and sister…_

I stared at it for almost an hour, unmoving from my place on the couch. I didn't understand. Was this normal? Why were the details of my old self so hard to recall? Were they all going to become lost to me forever?

"Bree? We're going hunting soon." Rosalie's voice came, crystal clear through the door. Why wasn't my own brother's voice so clear? "Bree?"

The door handle twisted and she was suddenly by my side. Rosalie had been neither friendly nor cold to me since I had entered their lives. I'd once asked, while in the same room as her, if they'd rather have just let the Volturi killed me.

Their answers were normal- No, you wouldn't have deserved it. You just needed to be taught.

Rosalie had remained silent but I knew the truth of her. **It would've been easier. **But I was growing on her, I could tell. Something about the way her husband played with me lightened her up.

But we'd never actually just spoken to each other outright. It seemed awkward as she stood beside me, not knowing if she should sit or not. We weren't friends. We weren't family. We didn't connect as easily as I had to some of the others.

But somehow, I knew she was the person to ask. "Why are they fading?"

She inclined her head, thoughtfully. Her beauty was stunning, even for a vampire. She was made up of the softest skin, the brightest eyes, the reddest lips, the blondest hair. She must've made a stunning human. "Memories fade from our minds if we do not think of them enough. If you concentrate now, you may be able to save them later. But it is difficult. Human memories are fickle things."

My hand smoothed the flyer. "My mother's hands touched this." I whispered, wishing I could hold her again.

Rosalie sat beside me carefully. "It would've been easier for them if you had died," she said, bluntly. "There would be no false hope, no expectations. They could grieve instead of only finding disappointment."

I winced, picturing my poor mother and brother sitting awake at night, talking to police, printing off these flyers, sitting by the phone. I wondered if my father had come down from New York. If he was torn up over his daughter's disappearance or if he was worrying from a distance.

I wondered if the news had even reached him yet.

"Why did Riley make me like this?" I asked myself. But I didn't know. My ability to know the truth only derived the truth other people knew themselves, consciously or not. But I didn't know. I had no clue.

Rosalie remained silent as my anger built up. I could smell Bella's jacket and the scarf of a boy from town, haunting me from my desk, where they hung to desensitize me to the smell of humans. It smelled like they were mocking me. My anger grew, bubbling to the surface quicker than I'd expected. "I'm young. I was only a kid, I didn't look threatening, I didn't look like I could be useful in a fight. There was no advantages in changing me." I struck out, swinging wildly, sending the couch crashing into the wall. "_There was no __**point!**_"

After a pause, Rosalie shrugged delicately. "You were there. Wrong place, wrong time. It happens to a lot of us."

"Including you?"

The question made her freeze up, her lovely face suddenly bitter. "Particularly me." Her eyes scanned me from her position near the door. She'd leapt away as soon as my voice rose, I realised. "You need to get past it Bree. You can't change what you are. You just have to accept it. It's hard and there will be days when you just want to throw yourself on a fire pit. But it'll get better, once you have someone else. Hold on to the memories but don't let them consume you. Don't make yourself miserable, wishing on things that won't happen."

The silence that reigned after her words made me want to crumple. I desperately wanted to ask how she became one of us but I knew it would be wrong to use my gift to find out. I slid to the floor, staring down at the worn flyer. "You have Emmett. I don't have anyone."I stated, bitterly.

"You want a mate?"

"I want someone to help me. Everyone here is so...content." I spilled over, not knowing where the words were coming from. "I want someone who isn't so damn _well adjusted _with this."

Rosalie came to sit beside me once more. "It took me years. Even now, I haven't completely come to terms with it. I still want to be human. But it _won't happen _Bree. It just won't."

"I'm never going to grow up." I whispered, horrified with the very thought. "I'll never be seventeen. I won't be able to get married. I won't have children. I won't grow old. I won't die. I won't do anything else but this. How am I meant to accept _that_?"

Rose put a hand on my back and I leaned into her. If I closed my eyes, I could almost imagine it was my own mother. I could almost picture her hands on me shoulder, her soft whispers of promise, her hair tickling my cheek.

I realised that I wasn't really on my own, wanting these things. Esme probably wished she had her own children. Alice probably wished she had her human memories. Emmet and Rose probably wished they could grow old together. I knew that Edward longed to be human with his Bella.

I had a long way to go before I made peace with what I was. But at least now I knew I wasn't as alone as I thought.


	4. Chapter 4

**Damned**

_she.s. .one_

**_Chapter Four_**

* * *

I was bouncing back on my heels in a way I hadn't since I was in Seattle.

I was nervous. Totally freaking out. Completely unnerved.

Because, against Jasper, Edward and my own judgement, Alice and Carlisle had decided today was the day I meet Bella properly.

Insane right?

I certainly thought so.

I checked my reflection once again in the mirror downstairs in the living room, fiddling with my hands, worrying my lip. "Bree, stop it, you're making me sick." Jasper moaned, pressing his hands to his head. I shrugged it off.

"I don't think this a good idea. Oh god. It's only been three months, I mean, what if I'm not ready? I don't think I can do this." I babbled, vampire speed style. Rosalie snorted. How she made it look pretty was beyond me but she did.

"You'll be fine. You've been training. You've gone hunting three times this week. You're ready for this." She calmed me. I shot her a thankful look but continued pacing around the living room, pausing only when Alice jumped out in front of me.

"Bree, I see everything going perfectly according to plan." She announced to me sternly, her eyes burrowing into mine. They'd began the transition into amber a few days ago. Now they were a sort of burnt orange kind of shade which looked much less frightening than the original crimson.

I eyed her and dug the truth out of her face, my bite scar throbbing a tiny bit: **She sees everything going fine except for one little possibility.**

"What's the possibility?" I demanded, sombrely. She pouted.

"I hate it when you do that." She whined but sighed. "It's nothing Bree, really, it's has less chance of occurring than Emmett in a dress."

"Hey, I resent that!" the enormous mountain of a vampire called as he sat beside Rose, twirling strands of her hair around his finger.

I stared at her, unleashing the full force of my gift on Alice's perfectly sincere face. She thinks I can do this. I took a deep breath, pointlessly. "Alice, you think too highly of me." I murmured, beginning my pacing again. I flitted around too quickly for normal, my feet barely touching the floor.

"Bree, you're ready-"

"Edward doesn't think so!" I argued.

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Edward is paranoid about Bella. Not that it's underserved considering the trouble that girl gets herself into." I knew it was true: Edward had flipped out about Carlisle's plan to have me meet Bella properly to such an extent that even I thought it was excessive. I'd been clean as Mr Sheen with humans whilst hunting. Even when I caught the very old scent of a human hiker, I had refrained from following it, struggling but managing to keep myself from hunting it.

The temptation was still there though.

Jasper theorized that it was because I'd been changed so young. My brain was still at a point where it could learn new skills easier than if I had been seventeen or eighteen. Apparently, my age was crucial in my brain development and it had been frozen like that for eternity.

But Jasper was wary about me meeting Bella. He'd taken a snap at her before if what Alice had told me was correct and was extremely protective of his brother's happiness.

It made sense but I would've been glad to have had a little of his faith in me. Jasper was the hardest one to convince of my control because, to an extent, he was still learning himself. I could pass Alice, Esme, Carlisle, even Edward's standards- but they'd mean next to nothing if I couldn't have Jasper's approval.

I could feel his eyes on me even now, making sure I kept calm but not too lucid. He told me it was to keep me focused and make sure I could handle myself without influence.

Esme flitted over to me, pushing me down to the couch and running her hands through my long hair, which was down and loose over my shoulders. I was wearing a plain white tee shirt and a zipped up grey hoodie, with a pair of dark jeans and dark tennis shoes, the most low key outfit I had.

Alice had been furious when I'd arrived down stairs that morning and I could tell she was itching to make me change. But I wanted to be comfortable when I met Bella. I wanted to be more like my old self, the one who would've had no trouble meeting this girl.

I'd stayed well away from the new designer black hooded sweater though. It was too much like what I'd been changed in.

"Just calm down," Esme said, sweetly. "You'll do fantastic. Even Bella wants to meet you."

This much I already knew. Bella wanted to meet the newest addition to the Cullen coven and had been pressuring her fiancé to introduce us for weeks. I knew that it was her desire to meet me which had been the most important factor in swaying him over. Their wedding was in a month's time. We'd decided to hold off on introducing me as the new adopted Cullen but I was still required to come.

According Alice, in was obligatory. I was expected to attend. And I couldn't do that if it was the first time I'd be meeting Bella, with a load of crowded people.

I merely nodded to Esme, wishing that time could stop and let me grow centuries older before I had to do this. Bella would be the first human I'd be meeting since the battle. I was only eight months old. I'd only been practising the vegetarian lifestyle for the past three.

I smiled at my adopted mother and stood, this time walking at a human pace to where Jasper and Alice sat on the stairs, entwined, languidly. "Jasper?" I asked, slowly. He raised a brow, obviously sensing the determination in me. "I want a promise."

Alice suddenly gasped and began to protest but Jasper put a hand on her shoulder. "Depends on the promise." He replied in his southern drawl.

I took a deep breath. I only had minutes before Bella arrived. She was already coming up the ridiculously long driveway. "If I look like I'm going to...attack-" I swallowed, knowing there was no going back. But it had to be done, for my own peace of mind. "I want you to kill me. No taking me upstairs. No second attempts. No second chances. I want you to kill me like you were going to in the field."

I could hear the total silence that reigned over the Cullens. The wheels on Edward's car drew closer, carrying Carlisle, Bella and Edward further toward me. I needed to know no one would get hurt.

The family was horrified. Esme gasped. "Bree, no one would blame you, you're too young to be expected to do perfectly." She protested.

"It'll take time Bree, for your control to get as good as ours." Rosalie added.

Even Emmett looked distressed. "You can't just doom yourself if you can't do it right the first time."

Alice was merely shaking her head. "I don't like that outcome Bree. It's not going to happen." She vowed. She stared at her partner. "You can't do that Jasper."

I held up a hand, still watching Jasper, who eyed me back. The car was parked. Edward was obviously listening in, waiting for the outcome of the conversation. "I don't want anyone else getting hurt because of me. I've been training for this. But if I can't do this- If I can't do this, then there's no point me staying here. And I refuse to go back to killing humans. Jasper, please." I ended in a whisper.

This wasn't a one time deal however. This was for the rest of the time Bella stayed human- this was for the wedding, for any other day she happened to be around. And they all knew it.

It was a tense moment when Jasper exhaled, near silently. "Hold your breath as much as you can. Don't move around too much. Be careful. Stay at a distance unless you think you can go further. Stick with one of us. But...if you can't, I'll do it." He promised.

I smiled, ignoring the distress and anxiety suddenly filling the rest of the Cullens. Because he was being honest.

"Okay then," I nodded, suddenly peaceful without Jasper's help. At that moment, there were two, quick knocks on the door and Alice untangled herself from my possible destroyer to run and answer it.

Immediately, the scent I'd been trained to hunt once upon a time invaded the room. But it was strange- almost as if I'd stepped into my room, where Bella's jacket was hung over my desk chair. It smelled wonderful but to be honest, it was more like I was smelling fresh flowers or something rather than the something I had craved so desperately.

Nevertheless, I held my breath as she hugged the brunette standing next to Edward. "Bella! You have to see the bridesmaid's dresses, they're _perfect_." She squealed, happily. I could almost taste her discontent however with her partner's promise to me.

Bella took a deep breath, similar to the one's I'd been taking all morning. "Alice, really, I don't mind. I trust your judgement." Her eyes, deep dark brown doe eyes, looked around, smiling at Esme and the rest of the Cullens. Even Rosalie paid her a small smile. Finally, they rested on me.

I flinched away, trying not to frighten her. My eyes weren't as human as the rest of the Cullens, too close for comfort to my bright former red. I fussed, wishing Alice had bought me contacts to wear...

"Bella, this is Bree. You met before but it wasn't exactly..." Carlisle began, unable to find the right word.

"Civil." I filled in, flashing him a small comforted smile. By the way his eyes flashed to Jasper for a split second, I knew Edward had filled him in on our agreement. "Hello." I greeted her, softly. _Don't scare her...don't watch her too long...don't frighten her...don't move too fast...Edward will kill you if she even shivers_...

"Hi Bree." She replied. Edward twisted just a touch, putting himself in between us. I couldn't help but smirk at him.

"Oh for heaven's sakes Edward," Alice hissed, pinching his arm hard. He flinched and glared at the little pixie. "She's not going to _do_ anything. _Jasper_ will _take care of her_ if she does." She added in a bitter whisper. Bella caught some of it but I doubted she really understood it as Alice looped an arm around her waist. "Come on Bella, I want to show you the outfits and sketches I have from the florist. She tried to tell me lilies weren't in season but I fought her for it."

Bella smirked. "Oh I can only imagine," she murmured and Alice beamed at her, pulling her upstairs and finally out of sight.

I nearly collapsed, all my breath coming out at once. Immediately, I turned to Edward. "Was she scared? I didn't scare her did I? Oh god, I _did_ didn't I? I tried not to look at her, I didn't want to freak her out-" I babbled, my brain running through the possible thoughts she must've had going through her brain.

"Bree, she was fine. In fact, she thought you were going to be angry with her," Edward raised his gaze skyward, exasperated. "For causing all the trouble with Victoria. She'll be the death of me, that girl..." he murmured.

"Angry?" I repeated, stunned. "She wasn't scared? Or freaked out?"

Emmett laughed. "Welcome to the world of Bella. _Nothing_ fazes her. She's freakishly good with weird." He explained, mirthfully but also relieved. Rosalie came to my side.

"Are you alright? How was the smell?" she asked me, concerned.

I wrinkled my nose. In truth, I hadn't really noticed it much. It was like having my room piled with her things, maybe a little more powerful. But I suppose, it was because she hadn't come close enough for me to get the full impact. "Not that bad," I replied, a little surprised at myself. I turned to Jasper. "Are you _sure_ she's not scared?" I demanded.

He shook his head. "Nope. Just worried about making you angry apparently. She really does think it's her fault, all the time. Drives Edward up the wall." He commented, grinning at his brother.

I exhaled. So I wasn't about to die any time soon. "Well that's good." I said to myself, smiling a little.

"Bree? Rosalie? Come up here, I need your help." Alice called, louder for Bella's sake I was sure. I froze, my eyes bulging.

"Is she _insane_?" I hissed, gobsmacked. Alice had snapped. Edward looked like he felt similar but less so for some reason.

Rosalie grabbed my shoulder. "Bree Tanner, Bella just walked past you, within arms' reach and you did nothing but worry about whether she was frightened of you. You. Will. Be. _Fine_. Alice and I are still here. I'll even have Edward and Jasper in the corridor if it makes you feel better." She added.

"Arms' reach is stretching it Rosalie." I deadpanned.

She shook her head, blonde locks flying. "Think about it,_ you are __right next to the stairs_. She went past you and you barely noticed because you were freaking out too much." She hugged me and whispered in my ear. "Even Edward's impressed."

I glanced at the Cullen mind reader's face and I could see the faint traces of astonishment there. "Okay." I said in a small voice.

Maybe I was doing better than I'd thought.

I followed her up to the room just in time to hear the end of Alice's thrilled squeal. "Oh, it's beautiful. I fixed up just a few little things on the skirt but it'll be perfect for the day." She promised as Rosalie walked into the room with me in tow.

Bella was in the wedding dress. It was long and silky and trimmed with lace at the hem and high collar. It looked like something you'd wear to a costume party. "Something right out of _Anne of Green Gables_." I murmured, pressing myself flat against the door. It was harder up here, Bella's scent was permeating everything.

I held my breath as she turned to look at me, surprised. "You've read it?"

I shrugged, feeling a touch self conscious. She was gorgeous in this dress. It was made for her. "I read everything." I replied, recalling the days I'd spent in the local library, waiting out the rain and ending up giving my mother a heart attack for being out so late. "Sci-fi, romance, western, fantasy...everything. Classics are cool though."

_Don't move_...I begged her. Every time her hair swished it sent the smell straight through the room to my nostrils. She smiled, hesitantly. "I love the classics. Alice, it's perfect. So are the dresses for the bridesmaids, everything looks great. Can I go now?" she asked, a touch of pleading in her voice.

Alice pouted. "But I thought we could hang out for a little while. You know, have a look at the wedding stuff, maybe plan some shopping trips..."

Bella's eyes grew wide as Rosalie winked at me from the bed. "Alice, no. We are not playing Bella Barbie today. I don't want to be dressed up in something I'll never wear." She insisted.

Alice rolled her eyes, tapping the plans splayed out on the bed thoughtfully. "You know, I think I have a catalogue downstairs with the cake I want in it."

"Why?" I asked, confused. "You don't eat."

The pixie grinned, happily. "It looks good." And sprinted out the door, leaving Rosalie and Bella and I in her wake.

I swallowed, trying to ignore the way Bella's blood reminded me of the last time I'd smelled it. My brain was calling up the feelings of pain that demon Jane had put me through and I almost shivered, recalling it. I isolated myself to the window, edging it open just a crack to let some fresh air in. Bella looked frustrated at her soon-to-be-sister-in-law.

"I can't imagine having to live with her dress ups every day," she said in a gentle tone. I realised, suddenly, that _she_ didn't want to scare _me_. How strange.

I shrugged, smiling back at her. "I'm a little harder to force." I smirked, thinking of Alice's tries to shower me with expensive clothes.

Bella sighed. "She's insatiable."

"You just wait," Rosalie said, absently flicking through a magazine on the couch. "Once you're changed, she'll be using the puppy dog eyes and cute factor on you day and night until you build up your immunity to it. She'll turn on the charm so hard you won't know what hit you."

The statement made Bella groan but it reminded me- she wanted to be changed. How anyone could want this was beyond me but it made sense to her apparently. I just hoped she knew what she was getting into. I wondered if she'd even considered how much she'd have to give up.

"She can certainly try." Bella grumbled and I gritted my teeth. I caught myself watching the way the blush spread across her pale cheek and my mouth started watering, despite the agony my mind was reminding me of, agony I'd suffered for her blood.

"I'm gonna go downstairs." I excused myself and zipping out of the room so fast that Bella's dress fluttered with my slipstream.

I was downstairs in a flash, taking deep breaths of un-Bella-rized air. Jasper and Alice were beside me, subtly putting their hands on my shoulders. "Just breathe. It's difficult for the first few times. You'll get better." Alice coached me. I threw her a dirty look.

"Cakes huh?"

She shrugged. "If it went on long enough Rosalie was going to excuse herself to check her hair in the ensuite bathroom. Edward was going to freak about it but he figured she was strong enough to keep you away until they came in." She explained, rapidly.

I just nodded, tightly. "I just started remembering how Jane felt." I shivered, the memory not quite as diluted as I'd hoped. "It just reminded me of it."

"That's good," Jasper assured me. "It means it'll distract you from trying to drink from her. You lasted longer than I'd expected." He added in an undertone.

I managed a weak grin. "So that's a no to the bar-Bree-cue?" I teased him. He grimaced.

"Not funny."

"You're right. It would've taken some work, building up the fire, explaining it to the locals. I wonder if they'd believe you if you said it was to keep warm." I added, giggling. Alice rolled her eyes.

"You're horrible Bree Ophelia Tanner." I winced.

"You're making me regret telling you that Alice." I muttered to her, shooting her a dirty look. She shrugged, angelically.

"You're middle name's _Ophelia_?" Emmett guffawed, enjoying it entirely too much. "Seriously?"

I sighed, pained. "My mom loved Hamlet."

"But isn't Ophelia the one-"

"That goes crazy and drowns herself?" I finished flatly. "Yeah. Don't even think about jokes. Trust me Em, I've heard them all and then some." I informed him. He raised his eyebrows, wickedly.

"Bree, I have an eternity to find new jokes." He reminded me, gleefully. I rolled my eyes.

"Go have fun with that Em. I'll tell you when I haven't heard one of them before. In the mean time, I'm going to go hunt." The previous thirst was returning, my throat was beginning to choke with flames.

Jasper stepped up beside me. "I'll come." He offered and I accepted gratefully. I needed someone who wouldn't try to ask me questions. Someone who would let me just sit alone for a while, where they could keep an eye on me of course.

After I drained the last of the small herd of elk, I heard Jasper behind me further up in the mountains, wrestling with mountain lion who was irritated that her claws weren't ripping his skin.

I smiled. "Alice is going to be mad. She sweated over the perfect shirt for hours." I called out to him and I could hear the laughter echoing back.

While he may not have trusted me, I felt he was at least a friend. I hovered above the stream nearby, washing the blood from my neck and arms. I was a messy eater apparently. I didn't understand how tiny little Alice did it without annihilating her perfectly crafted outfits.

I watched my reflection in the water, rippling and changing and tried to put together how I looked human. I was getting used to the beauty, unnervingly. I wasn't sure if I liked it. On one hand, I was accepting it. On the other, I was letting go of my old life and embracing this new existence.

I sighed, wondering if it was rude of me to leave like that. Edward had said Bella was nervous about seeing me. She thought I would be angry with her.

Logically, it would make sense. If she hadn't pissed off the Mistress, she wouldn't have needed her revenge. And I wouldn't have been so horribly recruited for her newborn army. I could be well into my sixteenth year of life. I'd be in high school, as a sophomore. I could be with Sally, who was desperately crushing on Michael, even though he liked other boys. I could have Jack in his final year, teasing and mocking me. I could have Brittany and her cronies flaunting their designer gear in my face although I couldn't care less.

_But I'm not_. I reminded myself, abruptly. _This is what Rosalie meant. Don't get caught up in the past and what could have been Bree. It's not a could anymore._

I sighed, rubbing my eyes of the rose tinted glasses.

So I'd met Bella today.

And not killed her.

Fantastic.

Now I just had to get through the rest of the month until they got married.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hope you enjoy this one guys, I keep getting notifications on my phone that you're all reviewing or favouriting so thankyou so much!**

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**Damned  
**_she.s. .one  
__**Chapter Five**_

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The day of the wedding had finally arrived.

I'd seen Bella a few more times since the first and it was getting easier all the time. She'd even given me a few of her books to read, ones they hadn't had in the Seattle Library. I realised that we would've clicked if I'd met her a year ago. It would've been easy.

We'd decided to tell the human guests that I was Esme's niece, the daughter of her own step-brother, Eleazar, who in truth was a member of the Denali coven from Alaska. But he had a wife, Carmen, who was also dark haired and they figured it would settle questions down if I had parents to answer for me. Parents who were much more experienced with lying and covering their tracks than I was.

I felt awkward meeting my 'parents' for the first time the day of the wedding but they couldn't turn up sooner and Alice needed me helping with final touches and helping Bella get ready. Apparently her visions kept cutting in and out and it was making her nervous.

"Ugh, it just disappeared again," she complained, organising the chairs to sit just right at the reception. I flitted nervously at her elbow, not quite comfortable with the amount of people who were going to be present. I was better, there was no doubt. I could definitely withstand the ceremony and maybe half of the reception.

But in the end, I'd be holding my breath the entire evening and ducking out to hunt at times. It would be a long time before my control got better but Jasper commended my effort. He said that if I hadn't been as dedicated as I was, they wouldn't have had me come to the wedding at all.

I frowned. "What makes your visions stop?" I asked her as Jasper, Emmett and Edward appeared, the latter pacing up and down at the edge of my vision. He ran his hand through his hair like he wanted to yank it out at the roots. _Careful Edward, _I taunted him in my mind, unable to resist. _Bella might not like you if you're bald._

He glared at me, a look so dark it almost made me shiver.

Almost.

Alice sighed, frustrated. "So far? Just the dogs. But the only one coming is Seth and he's already committed to coming later." Her fingers twitched into fists like she wanted to throw a punch at someone. I stepped back just in case.

"Why do they keep cutting out?" I murmured to myself and froze when the answer became abundantly clear to me:

**Edward invited Jacob. He is deciding whether to show up or not. **

I opened my mouth, about to tell Alice why her visions were going haywire when I caught Edward's eye and he shook his head, almost imperceptibly. I frowned but closed my mouth. It wasn't my right to start a fight so early in the wedding. Especially not between Alice and Edward, both of whom loved Bella exponentially. Everyone was arriving soon. Alice needed to be focused.

"I'm going to go check in with Bella. You coming Bree?" Alice suddenly announced, flouncing off without another word. I followed, helpless to contradict her in her mad wedding power trip.

We arrived at Bella's pseudo dressing room for the afternoon to see her trying to take her breaths as deep as she could, calming herself down. I smiled as Alice appeared, grabbing Bella's attention immediately.

"Alice- wow."

"It's nothing. No one will be looking at me today. Not while you're in the room." She shrugged it off and eyed Bella's beautiful form once more. She was truly stunning- her mortality made her into the astonishing beauty I saw before me. Everything from the nerves, the excitement, the blush, it all added to her beauty.

They chatted for a while, with me on the edges, studying Bella sadly. I'd never be her age. I'd never be so beautiful. I'd never be in love, never get married like this. _Stop it. _I demanded of myself. _This is Bella's day. Don't ruin it._

Alice cut her eyes to me, questioningly. "I need to go grab the 'something borrowed'. Can you stay here for a little bit?" she asked me, slowly. I nodded, hesitant.

The Cullens were more confident in me than ever. They thought too highly of me, praised me too much. I knew all my hard work would pay off if I could finally be worthy of it. Alice left and I was left alone with the blushing bride, who stubbornly refused to look in the mirror.

I took an experimental breath and smiled. No, all clear. I'd hunted last night in case. "Bella? Can I ask you something?" I asked her softly.

She looked at me, eager to have something else besides her reflection to focus on. "Sure."

"I got changed as part of the Mistre- I mean, Victoria's army. I didn't have a choice, I just got my world taken from me. I guess what I want to know is..." I bit my lip, sliding into the nearest seat by the door. "Why do you still choose this life? Why do you want to be a vampire?" I asked her, wondering if I'd gone too far.

But she considered it, thoughtfully. "I'm in love with Edward. So in love, there aren't even words to describe it." She admitted, smiling. "And impossible as it seems, he loves me. I want to be with him forever. I know it seems like I'm just in love with the idea but Edward and I...we just feel it. I need him like I need air."

"And the pain? Being thirsty? Not trusting yourself?" I queried, curious. "Is it worth it? Not being able to have kids or get old...that, doesn't bother you?"

Bella bit her lip. "I know it's going to be hard. I know it's going to be painful and difficult. But I know that if I can have him, it'll be worth it. I've never wanted to fight for anything more than this. I'll even fight _him_ for it. I can't try to exist in a world where he isn't with me. I've done it before and it's not life."

I nodded, a little surprised. "It must be wonderful," I whispered, running a hand over the smooth green fabric of my dress. It was cute- a little vintage with the floral print, high semi-turtle-necked but sleeveless and cut off at the knee with tights. Alice had dressed me perfectly, as always, my hair up in a French twist. "To be in love like that."

Bella nodded, still not looking at herself. "It's incredible. I still can't believe it at times."

"Did Edward ever tell you what I do?" I asked her, smiling. She shook her head, looking surprised that I had an ability. "I can see the truth. When people lie, my shoulder hurts and I kind of hear the truth in my head. You don't have to doubt yourself Bella. Edward is ridiculously in love with you. So much so that it's hard to hear in my head, the truth is so strong. It sounds like a gong."

Bella looked surprised but reigned it in. "I know. Though I am sorry about the gong sound effects." She added on, grinning. I laughed but shrugged.

"Nothing to be done about it."

At that moment, Alice reappeared, her face irritated. "There were so many humans I couldn't run. How you manage at this speed is beyond me." She muttered, nudging me on the way past. "Bree, you need to go downstairs, Rose is back with the parents. Just stick with her and you'll be fine."

I nodded, smiling again at Bella. "You're beautiful Bella." I told her and she smiled at me, understanding that I was telling her the truth.

I found Rosalie easily enough, who then guided me to where Carlisle, Esme and Emmet were inviting people in. She exchanged a look with Carlisle, who paused and withdrew something from his pocket before walking over to us. The whole house was done up beautifully. Alice was truly an artist.

Carlisle stood with Rosalie and me. I could see Emmett making his way over. "Bree," he began. "I think it's time we asked you something, something we'd like to make official." Frowning, I nodded for him to continue and he fingered the slim white box he held in his hands. "You started out rough Bree, make no mistake. I know it's been difficult for you to adjust to this life as well as our lifestyle. You've been working so hard to control yourself, to fit in with our diet but you've also fitted in with our family.

We're not a coven Bree, we're family. You've become a part of us- I know Alice and Rosalie think of you as a sister as do Emmett and Jasper. Even Edward trusts you around Bella, something that only occurs within the family. Esme loves you like a daughter, as do I. It's not easy being a Cullen." Carlisle admitted, opening the box in one sleek motion.

Inside, lay a small pendant of obsidian with a long uneven streak of bright green running through it, no longer than my little finger and rectangular, bearing the proud, engraved lion of the Cullen crest. My jaw dropped. "But if you'd like to try, I think we all agree that we would be honoured to accept two new members today."

I knew what this meant. Everyone in the family had the Cullen crest: Edward, Jasper and Emmett wore it on leather cuffs, Alice wore it on a choker, Rosalie as a large pendant at the end of a silver chain. Carlisle wore it even now, as a ring and Esme had a silver bracelet fastened to her wrist.

If I took this, I'd be a Cullen. Officially. Now and forever.

"It's not perfect," Rosalie admired the piece as it sat between Carlisle's fingers. "The owner told me that the stone was broken when it was still forming and the peridot sealed itself into the wedge. They found it in Mexico, a total freak occurrence. It'll probably never happen again, it's so unlikely. But it reminded me of you, so I had the crest put on it for you."

If I had tear ducts, I would've been sobbing. "Th-thankyou. I- I would love to be a Cullen." I accepted shyly and Rosalie snapped the chain into place around my neck.

"Yes, new little sister!" Emmett whooped, hugging me and spinning me off my feet. I shrieked with laughter, begging for him to put me down but at the same time, revelling in what had happened today.

I found a home. And people to love, and love me. Today, I became one of the family.

-''-''-''-

That wasn't to say our plan with Carmen and Eleazar wasn't still on. I met up with them before the ceremony started, seated near the back, near the exit in case I needed it, getting used to the gradual increase of scents.

"Bree?" Carlisle said and I heard him, across the room, at the entrance. "Would you come over here for a moment."

I weaved in and around the masses of people, wishing that their eyes didn't stare quite so obviously at me. I winced when one woman twirled around, laughing, her hair sweeping dangerously close to my face. _Stay calm Bree...stay calm...just go to Carlisle...one little bite...no! Carlisle, focus, Carlisle..._

I made it over barely and immediately tensed up as I realised he was not alone. "Bree, may I introduce you to our friends the Novaks, the Denali coven from Alaska. This is Tanya, Kate, Carmen and Eleazar." He introduced the four golden eyed vampires and I quickly shook all their hands, nervously.

Other vampires hadn't given me the best of reputations to associate with new people. It made me jumpy to see new vampires I didn't know well. Carmen smiled, mischief in her tone. "Ah, yes, hello daughter." She greeted, kissing my cheeks. I held perfectly still but smiled back.

"Hello mother."

The only male, Eleazar, tilted his head, scrutinizing me. "Hm. The ability to see lies and the truth. Interesting gift you have there, Bree." He complimented and I immediately went on the offensive, drawing back and tensing my muscles, baring my teeth slightly. _How did he know about that?_

Carlisle put a restraining but comforting hand on my shoulder. "Bree, Eleazar here has the ability to sense other abilities. He sees the potentials of people." He explained and I eased up a little, forcing the joints to move.

"Sorry I just...I'm not good around new people, I guess." I apologised, feeling embarrassed but they simply smiled, gently.

"She's young but there's no doubt she's adapted fantastically Carlisle." Tanya commented to him, taking in the crowd. "It's a rather large group of humans here today."

While Carlisle explained my hard work to her, and Jasper's and his theory of my brain being frozen at the crucial point of advancement, I tried not to fiddle with my contacts. They were a dark, dark brown, to cover up any of the remaining amber but they were frustrating.

My eyes kept honing in on the warped sections and miniscule little flecks. Kate grinned at me. "Annoying aren't they? Don't worry, they should golden up in a month or two. You're not far away." She assured me and I smiled back at her.

"Kate, we should be taking our seats. Bree, you'll be sitting between Kate and Carmen is that alright?" Tanya organised, quickly. I nodded, shortly.

"Sure."

"Okay then, let's go watch Edward play human." Tanya smirked. Kate rolled her pretty eyes.

"Tanya, be nice. The Cullens like to be part of human society." She argued. Tanya shrugged, daintily.

"It's just so much work. I mean, really think about it- there's all the paperwork, going to school, having to deal with those boring humans. Good lord, if I had to attend high school these days I think I'd cry." She ranted, causing her sisters to exchange glances and smile.

**She'd like it but she thinks it would be too much work.**

"Liar..." I whispered to myself, smiling. Carmen tossed me an amused look that clearly said she knew what I was talking about. I grinned back at her as we took a space toward the back.

The ceremony was beautiful, of course. Bella walked down the aisle in her gorgeous dress and said 'I do' to Edward under an arch of fresh flowers. The reverend asked them if they would take each other 'so long as we both shall live' instead of 'until death do us part', something which made me exchange an amused look with Alice from my seat.

And just as quickly, they had kissed and the wedding flowed on into the reception, beginning _just _at twilight.

I had to leave about part way through, just to grab some of the refrigerated animal blood we had stocked in the kitchen, striving not to remember the way one man had come too close too quickly. I almost pounced but Rosalie was suddenly beside me, pulling me away without difficulty.

I sighed, taking deep breaths.

"Are you alright now?" she murmured, concerned.

I nodded, managing a weak grimace. "It's much better than before. Thanks Rose."

She inclined her head to the rest of the wedding party. "Okay, time to get the dance with the groom. Just stay on the outskirts while I do alright?" Rosalie checked with me before gliding out to meet Edward. I watched them from within the glass doors of the main house, awed at their beauty.

If they weren't so stubborn, arrogant and paranoid, I could almost see what Carlisle had meant to do when he changed Rose. A match made in heaven, with two of the finest angels.

The first song blended into the second. Edward continued his dance with Rosalie although his gaze kept darting far off, to one darkened corner beside the outdoor patio, where a huge shadowy figure loomed over Bella while they danced. My eyes narrowed.

The smell said wolf. I studied them and frowned. It was Bella's friend, the same one that had gotten hurt the day of the battle. The one that wanted her to stay human even more than Edward. Jacob Black.

Suddenly, Edward stiffened and casually ended his dance with Rose, swiftly moving toward Bella. Rose beckoned me with a subtle finger and I followed her, edging between the people, my senses heightened as I followed to where Rosalie was hissing with Jasper.

"...go get the others," he was saying, calmly but firmly. "They'll come get him."

Rose nodded and I took off after her, down into the forest to where several of the enormous wolves were waiting, impatiently. I froze, memories of that day flowing fast over me. The terror, the screams, the smell, the pieces of my fallen comrades, Maria's head being thrown into the fire, wishing I could join her, wanting to tear something apart...

"...losing control. Go get him before he ruins this party." Rosalie hissed at them. One of them, a silvery one, suddenly caught my eye and growled. I snarled back, instinctively and he stepped forward like he was about to start something when the biggest black one snapped at him and jerked his massive head toward where the quivering form of Jacob Black was up against a terrifyingly angry Edward Cullen.

And somehow I knew he wasn't shaking with fear.

The wolves followed their leader, padding soundlessly off to help their pack mate.

When they weren't paying attention to us, Rose gripped my arm, tightly. "Are you alright?"

I nodded, jerkily. "Yes. It's just difficult for me not to want them dead. They made an impression on the field." I told her, weakly.

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "They have that impression everywhere they go." She muttered and tugged me back to the party. "Come on, they'll take care of that mutt but we need to do crowd control. We can't all just disappear without people wanting to know where we are."

I watched with slight awe as Rosalie bantered with the hordes of humans, smiling and laughing and dancing out of their grips as they tried to sling arms over her shoulders or around her waist. She was a professional and I simply followed shyly after her.

When the others came back, it was as if no one noticed their smooth arrival as they slid back into the crowd, Bella tightly under Edward's arm, trying not to let the tear marks show. I felt a growl tear from within my chest. What had that mutt done to her?

Finally, it came time to say goodbye to the guests and the reverend and of course the newlyweds, who were off to a private island Carlisle bought for Esme for their wedding anniversary. Their honeymoon destination was supposed to remain secret but the Cullens were quickly discovering, you couldn't really lie to me.

Edward kissed me on the cheek and hugged me before he left, grinning at the pendant around my neck. "Welcome to the Cullens, Bree." He murmured and I smiled back at him, pleased that he was happy with it. It made it easier to enjoy my new family, knowing they were okay with me staying.

I watched with everyone, smiling as Edward helped the newly dressed Bella into the car to the airport and drove off into the evening. Somehow, it made me think perhaps I could retain a little more of my humanity than I'd previously thought.

-''-''-''-

"Jazz, come on." Emmett moaned, tugging at his adopted brother's arm impatiently. I giggled from my place curled up in a stray, rare piece of sunlight on the couch. My skin glittered like diamonds were embedded in the surface.

"Go _away _Em," Jasper muttered, concentrating on Alice's chess pieces. She smirked, taking his bishop from the sixth connected board. He swore lowly and moved his queen three places across onto the fourth connected board.

"Just _one _match. Please? No mood messing, no mind reading. Just plain old strength on strength." He pleaded, gesturing to the brewing storm on the horizon. I scowled at it, curling tighter in my little patch. The light threw rainbows off my skin onto the walls.

"No." Jasper held fast, busily trying to capture his wife's king. Alice's face trembled for a second, becoming sad and worried as if she would cry if she could. Suddenly, she growled.

"Cut that out Jazz." She snapped at him while he smirked. "Or else you can play with Bree."

Jasper groaned. "Not again. She's useless."

I rolled my eyes. "That's not what three-championships-of-undefeated-chess-playing-from-me says." I sang softly under my breath, not looking up. Everyone had found that playing board games or card games or any games really, with me was useless. I just dug out the true intentions of where they wanted to put their pawns or what cards they had and I was golden.

Alice was interested to see if I would be able to derive the truth from Bella once she came back or if Edward would be able to compete with me with his mind reading. As if _she _were the mind reader, Alice sighed, impatiently. I knew she was itching to see her best friend and newest sister back from her honeymoon. It had been almost twenty days since the wedding. Apparently it was too much to let Edward and Bella have their time alone in Alice's point of view.

"Go ask Bree." Jasper finally snapped, glaring at Emmett. I growled at him.

"Do you _mind? _I'm trying to read here." I complained as he turned his adopted brother on me. I was gliding through some of the novels Esme had bought me yesterday: a lot of it was Shakespearean stuff like Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, MacBeth, Midsummer Night's Dream.

I was working through Hamlet, gritting my teeth at the parts of Ophelia, where I would curse my middle namesake to the heavens for being such a whiny type of woman. Emmett was enjoying it far too much.

"Come _on _Bree, just one fight please?" he whined. **He's going to keep going to try to keep it going til sundown.**

I raised an eyebrow. "One fight? Really?" I questioned, knowingly. His shoulders sagged.

"Sometimes I wish we didn't have so many freaks in the family..." he mumbled, darting upstairs to where Rosalie was re-sorting her wardrobe. He quickly grabbed her attention away and I tuned them out, returning to my novel.

It was a sudden jerk when Alice gasped, her eyes wide and blank. From previous experiences and stories, I was quickly learning that when Alice gasped it meant something bad was on the way.

"Bella just disappeared." She whispered, stunned and in a blink, she was across the room, rapidly dialling numbers into the phone. "Go get Carlisle," Alice ordered Jasper who flashed upstairs. I felt myself begin to dig around in my own brain, trying to ask questions that would show me what was going on.

But all I could understand was that Alice's visions of Bella had suddenly gone blank. Which meant there was a werewolf nearby or...

She was dead.

Carlisle and Esme arrived just as Bella picked up and there was a collective but miniscule sigh of relief as she answered. "Hi, Alice." She sounded terribly hoarse.

"Bella? Bella, are you okay?" Alice chirped frightened. I tensed, waiting for the answer.

"Yeah. Um. Is Carlisle there?"

My brow furrowed. She needed Carlisle. A medical problem? "He is. What's the problem?" Alice trilled, carefully.

"I'm not...one hundred percent...sure..."

"Is Edward all right?" Alice checked, warily. "Carlisle," she called him and he appeared by her side, looking anxious. Her eyes turned glassy for a split second again and she grew tenser. "Why didn't he pick up the phone?"

"I'm not sure."

"Bella, what's going on? I just saw-" Alice broke off, her visions attacking her once more.

"What did you see?"

Alice paused, unable to see past anything but her visions before passing Carlisle the phone. "Here's Carlisle."

"Bella, it's Carlisle, what's going on?"

"I- I'm a little worried about Edward...Can vampires go into shock?" I could've laughed if it hadn't been so horribly urgent.

"Has he been harmed?"

"No, no," I breathed a sigh of relief. "Just...taken by surprise."

"I don't understand, Bella." _No, _I wanted to scream. _None of us do! EXPLAIN!_

"I think...well, I think that...maybe...I might be..."

There was an impenetrable silence as Bella took a deep breath. "Pregnant."

_So _not what I was expecting.

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**A/N: So this is where breaking dawn begins. To answer the question I got at the beginning of this story: This is a re-edited version but no, it's not going to change alot from what I posted originally, just a little neater.**

**Thanks!**

**Shy.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Absolutely loving the messages and reviews I'm getting about Bree, her powers and her future mate (she will have one, promise). He won't appear in this story but the part I'm working on now is called **_Redemption_ **and it does contain Bree's mate. I will be taking all suggestions under advisement (I do like the idea of Alistair being involved to whoever sent me that message but I'm still thinking) so thankyou very much and enjoy!**

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**Damned  
**_she.s. .one_**  
**_**Chapter Six**_

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I sat in total astonishment as Carlisle's medical training displayed itself, asking all the right questions, treating it clinically, answering Edward with logical answers. I couldn't listen to his theories or answers. It was too shocking.

_Pregnant._

How was that even possible? Vampires were..._dead. _There was no blood, no food, nothing but ice hard skin and venom to produce or support a baby. How did this happen? I blanched- okay, I knew _how. _Edward and Bella were on their _honeymoon _after all.

But Bella was _human. _Edward was _dead. _This baby would be part dead, it wouldn't be able to live. How was that going to work? It would never carry full term. Not unless Bella kicked her tenacity into overdrive and even then it was unlikely.

A dead child couldn't exist. What would it eat? How would it be born? Would it be more human? Or more vampire? Would it even exist at all? My brain whirred and suddenly Alice was beside me, sitting very tightly on the sofa. "Bree...I need a favour." She whispered, nearly inaudible.

I nodded, stiffly, my eyes still wide from hearing the news. It wasn't possible. Bella must be sick with some weird Brazilian virus. "Er...of course, Ali, what do you need?"

"I had a vision of Bella's future. In which, she's dead." She said bluntly. I flinched. "Now I see her as a vampire. Then I don't see her at all. Bella can't be pregnant," she spat the word out. "With Edward's baby. It can't be his." She hissed.

I stared at her, one thing clicking in my mind after another. Suddenly, I leapt off the couch, growling at Alice. "You mean you think it's someone _else's?_"

Alice shook her head vehemently. "No, I know Bella. I know she loves my brother. But I need you to just...dig around." She struggled with the words, her eyes dark and pleading. I felt helpless and confused and angry at the pixie-like vampire before me.

"What do you want me to do about it Alice, ask her if she's been sleeping around with any of the Brazilian housekeepers lately?" I hissed at her, fiercely. She growled in frustration.

"_No. _I want you to talk to her. See if anything happened on that honeymoon that was...out of the ordinary. I don't understand it. I need to know what's going on, it's so important...I can't lose Bella. She's my sister." Alice ended in a mere whisper.

I shook my head, tired. "I don't know if it'll work over the phone." I protested, worried. "I might not get anything."

Alice closed her eyes. "Please Bree. I can't lose her again."

Again. I knew the story of how Bella had gone cliff diving and caused Alice to freak out, thinking she was dead. And how Rosalie told Edward who went to the Volturi to ask them to execute them. I knew the whole story. But I didn't stop to think of how terrified and helpless Alice must've felt, watching her 'for-all-intents-and-purposes' sister die.

I reached out to Carlisle before he hung up. "Edward, let me talk to Bella." I ordered quickly. I could almost hear his frown.

"Bree? Listen, now isn't the time to be-"

"Edward, _put her on._" I snarled, sounding like my newborn self for the first time since the field. Since I'd snarled at Bella, desperate for her blood.

He sighed, frustrated but put her on and after a moment, Bella's shaky voice came over the phone line. "Hello?"

"Hey Bella, it's Bree." I murmured and I could hear the tears in her voice as she replied.

"What's going on? Edward won't tell me."

"Well, Carlisle thinks you're pregnant." I told her, frankly. I tried to stretch myself out like I had before. I could feel my gift, probing out to the minds of the Cullen family, picking up Alice's true fear that Bella was dying already, Carlisle's diagnosis of Bella. It was difficult- spreading myself so thin made it more difficult to pick details up so I only had the gist of things.

It was so complicated. There was no hard and fast rule. I picked up random information sometimes, I felt a throbbing other times. Nothing was ever set and certain. I could feel it though, like I'd never felt it before. It wasn't limited to the area- what was land in comparison to the universal truth?

It was like I was being lifted up, seeing the world from a better angle. I looked for Bella, trying to focus in the jumble of meaningless trivia. I could feel my head beginning to ache with the pressure and I knew I wouldn't be trying this again in a hurry. _Bella, Bella, Bella..._

And suddenly I found her and the words came spilling into my head, bright and clear and fresh.

**Edward is the father.**

Just as quickly as I'd risen, I fell, hard back down to planet earth and it _hurt._ As if he could sense my discomfort, Edward cut me off from the conversation with a few words and I was left, holding the disconnected phone, my brain aching and throbbing with the effort.

Alice watched me, looking scared. "Bree? Are you alright?" she demanded. I swallowed and shook my head.

"It hurts." I replied, squinting against the harshness of the lights. I'd never felt more human and weak and Jasper had to catch me before I fell over. "It really hurts."

"Hey, hey, hey, take it easy." He murmured, helping me sit down on the couch. I tilted my head back, wishing I could just drown at the incessant throbbing. "You need to hunt. Your eyes just got dark. That must've taken a lot of energy."

I tossed him a suffering look. "You have no idea. I just heard truths from every mind in the world. Ugh. But at least we know for certain now," I said, shooting a dark look at Alice who just bared her teeth slightly in response. "Edward is the father and she's definitely pregnant."

-''-''-''-

Bella had been home for a week.

And it was getting worse.

She was feverishly warm, clammy, sticky with sweat. She woke with screams from nightmares none of us could save her from. She could barely keep down food and usually it came right back up a day later. The creature was kicking and bruising her skin from the inside out.

It was disgusting to watch- I kept myself busy, struggling to keep myself in check by hunting every other day, making sure I was fully satisfied before I went anywhere near her.

Because although I knew if I hurt Bella, Edward would turn me into a crispy critter, I also knew that if I hurt the foetus, Rosalie _and _Bella would annihilate me.

Bella was sticking firmly to the idea that she was carrying the baby of the love of her life and refused to even try to terminate it. Not even to save her life. Rosalie was suddenly in the place she'd always wanted to be in: delivering a baby into the world. I knew it wasn't ideal because if she had it her way, _she_'d be the human, the one giving birth. But it was close enough to what she'd never thought she would ever have that Rosalie was tenaciously guarding Bella, as if the others would tear it out of our human sister while she slept.

No one knew how to handle the situation. Edward was looking worse every day, like he was under the affects of Jane's sadistic mind torture but suffering in silence. Because he knew that he could never hurt Bella, even if it meant sacrificing himself to keep her happy. It was as if he were burning a little more each day.

I wondered if there would be anything left when it was all over.

Jasper, Alice and Carlisle were at a loss as to what to do. Esme was vehemently against trying to force something on her family. Emmett was sticking by Rosalie, although he blanched at the bruises on Bella's snowy stomach. It looked like someone had used her as a punching bag, a vampiric punching bag at that.

I stood away from it all because I knew that Bella loved this _thing _and was desperate to make Edward see what a gift it was. Because I knew Edward loved Bella and was sickened that he'd done this to her. Because I knew Rosalie was finally getting what she'd been aching for, after all these years and she wouldn't let anyone take it from her.

And because I knew, above it all, that Alice's visions were blinking in and out of existence, from Bella as a vampire to Bella as a corpse.

Rosalie let me sit near Bella but only if Emmett was on the other side, keeping tabs on me. Her faith in me had hit negatives- the pointed truth was that she didn't trust me around the 'baby'.

I rubbed Bella's shoulders softly, wishing I could do something to stop this torture being inflicted upon her. She was starving but she couldn't eat. She was tired but she couldn't sleep. She was fading away but she wouldn't let anyone stop the thing causing the damage.

I heard the motor bike coming up the driveway first. My ears prickled. "What is that?"

Edward focused on the sound and his expression flickered for a second, like he'd just been thrown a life raft. "Jacob."

"That _mutt _is coming here?" I echoed, disgusted. The smell made me sick to my stomach alone. If he phased, I wouldn't be able to control myself. Since the Newborn Battle, I'd been incapable of ridding myself of the instinct to attack whenever the wolves came near. It was difficult to stop myself.

"I'll get it," Carlisle offered, squeezing Edward's shoulder on the way out. I listened as Jacob spoke with my adopted father, trying not to inhale the stench. Edward leaned his head on Bella's knees and she ran a hand through his hair, gently.

I knew she loved him but I couldn't understand. How could she do this to him? How could she kill him so cruelly?

"Er, Jacob, it's not really the best time. Could we do this later?" Carlisle asked the mutt, awkwardly.

"No way, he's not coming in here." Rosalie hissed, jumping to her feet and glaring at the door.

"Why not?" Bella croaked. "Are we keeping secrets from Jacob too? What's the point?" She asked Rosalie.

"He's dangerous." Rosalie growled at her.

"But you like to protect dangerous things don't you Rosalie?" Edward growled at Rosalie.

She hissed at him and crouched, about to pounce before Emmett jumped between them. Alice grabbed at Jasper's arm and a wave of calm filled the room.

I jumped away from Bella, wishing the smell would just go away as Bella whispered: "Come in, please, Jacob."

I froze as soon as Jacob entered the room. His eyes paused on each of us standing around the living room. Then he glared at Edward but my mind reading brother never took his eyes off Bella's face.

Jacob took in Bella's position on the couch. His eyes searched every inch of her face. I noticed his hand twitch and Rosalie leaned over Bella glowering at Jacob. He ignored her and took a step towards Bella.

Bella looked up at Rosalie and she reached for the basin in time for Bella to throw up in it.

"Sorry about that," she whispered, her throat too hoarse for anything else. My face screwed up in pain as I took in the destruction this creature was wreaking. I'd joined the Cullen _family. _I'd joined for their love and their humanity and their peace. Their unity and love had made them strong enough to destroy my old coven.

Now, they were in pieces, turned against one another, some tormented, some confused, some exhausted, some dying, some gleeful, some amazed.

I pressed myself against the wall as Jacob Black, the werewolf, walked toward my human sister, Isabella Cullen, ignoring the hissing Rosalie, the vampire, focused on her haggard face.

When had things gotten so messed up?

"Rose, don't, it's fine." Bella begged her and she moved out of the way.

"Bella, what's wrong?" he whispered, his voice tense with fear and shock. "Are you all right?"

I snorted quietly. Did he have a pair of eyes?

"I'm so glad you came to see me today, Jacob," Bella said, smiling weakly.

I needed to get out, get away from this awful reality. Jacob's eyes flashed to me as I twitched toward the door, his face suddenly still for a second, on instinct. But he soon returned his gaze to Bella, to her broken body that was slowly falling deeper and deeper into the grave she'd dug for herself.

I ran.

I ran further and further, deeper and deeper, never ceasing, never stopping, never pausing. I didn't hunt this time, I just leapt over the ground like it wasn't even really there. The broken logs somehow became Bella's broken body. The twists and gnarled trees became the expression of agony on Edward's face. I heard the growls of a far off mountain lion and it reminded me of Rosalie's protective stance over Bella.

The Cullens were going through a crisis and now, to make things perfect, the wolves were going to find out unless Rosalie killed Jacob. I wasn't stupid. I knew the wolves were going to hate this creature the way they hated me:

They thought I was too wild, too untrained to be allowed to live and survive. No matter the fact I hadn't killed anyone after the battle. Regardless of my efforts in this new way of life. They were going to take one look at Bella's unknown, unprecedented 'child' and see it as a threat to be eliminated.

Treaty be damned.

I finally stopped when the sun began to set, pausing under one of the largest trees I'd ever seen. I scaled it quickly, shredding off branches the width of Emmett's forearm in my climb. The stars were beginning to sprinkle themselves in the sky, as if someone had spilled a jewellery box, carelessly letting the precious diamonds scatter across the velvet blue.

I could smell a town a few miles away and nothing but old trails. No one had followed me from the Cullens. No one was around but me. I was the only living thing in the area and I wasn't even _alive._

I sat at the top of the swaying tree, wondering if it would hurt if I jumped from here. I contemplated it. Even shuffled closer to the edge. But then stopped and sighed.

I was distracting myself from my own thoughts. I was running away from them.

The forest thinned out very soon, I noted as I narrowed my eyes on a sign far off in the distance: _Welcome to Crossfield, Alberta, Canada! _was printed on a board outside the little lit up town.

I felt floored but shook the feeling off. I was in Canada. Huh.

I knew when the sun came, I'd have to run back. I'd have to circle back around and make my way back to Forks, back to the mayhem that was my new life. It was worth it, I knew but at the same time, I didn't want my emotions clouding my judgement. Jasper was hesitant around me for a reason: newborn emotions usually ended in body counts.

I needed to calm down for a while. Make sure I was in control of myself.

Internally, I knew half of the reason was just to escape Edward's tortured face and the disgusting pain Bella was putting herself through. She planned to become a vampire after the 'baby' was delivered. I shuddered. Even she didn't think she was going to make it through to the very end. This was going to be the backup plan. Bella knew she was going to die.

The thoughts were too heavy for me. They weighed me down, pressing on my skull. Tentatively, I reached out and over to the town of Crossfield and lifted the truth of where a husband went every night (to meet up with his secretary for something _very _different to paperwork), what a little girl wanted for her birthday (a pony, a bicycle and for her parents not to fight) and the hidden thoughts of a young man (who was about to propose to his girlfriend).

I sagged against the tree afterwards. My head hurt whenever I tried to stretch myself too far but I thought it was getting better. Alice said her visions used to cause her to have fits of black outs but she controlled them after a while.

Instead however, I sifted through my thoughts at a human pace for once. I thought about what would be happening to my human friends and family. I wondered if my mother had forgotten to feed Olivia, my pet cat. I wondered if maybe I'd be tempted to eat my little ginger cat if I got near her again.

When I saw the very first faint pricks of daylight, lightening the sky just a fraction, I leapt off the tree and hit the ground lightly, making a dent in the hard, frozen soil beneath me. I giggled, leaning back and running my arms and legs through the dirt. I stood up and grinned at the dirt angel I'd made before sighing and pounding it out of existence.

People would get suspicious otherwise, I told myself as I started to race, my hair floating along behind me like a cape.

I could pretend I was flying, like I had wings. I took running leaps and did flips in the air, enjoying the freedom. If Jack had been able to, he totally would've loved to run like this. He was on the track team at our high school, scholarship to college.

He would've been green with envy.

I was faster this time around, having hunted a large buck before setting out. I was so fast, I doubted anyone could've seen me. All they would've had to go on was the slipstream and slight dust I left behind.

When I came across my family's trails, I felt warmth spread through my chest. I was home. I followed them up through the forest, carefully avoiding the treaty line when I came close to it. I didn't want to cause any more trouble than-

A thick, low growl interrupted my thoughts and I stopped, suddenly. Spinning around, I took in the three wolves as they slowly padded toward me. I frowned, looking at my feet. "What? I'm on my side." I complained, gesturing to the narrow brook that ran down the line.

The wolves' ears twitched as one and I realised something had happened the second the black and brown one stepped up to the brook and cocked its head, speculatively. My muscles tensed. _He wouldn't. No. They wouldn't dare._

And suddenly he pounced, leaping across the brook to our side and I snarled, fiercely at the invasion of territory. This land was _ours. _

He growled back and I realised, backed by the other two, I didn't have a chance. I bolted, zipping off through the trees, twisting and scaling trees where necessary- anything to get away from them.

I screamed in anger as one of them snapped at my heels. I stopped suddenly, letting them skid past me and crouched, my teeth bared. This was my old self. My newborn self. This Bree was unstoppable, powerful, strong. This Bree was looking for vengeance and blood.

I pounced on the first wolf, grappling it to the ground and tossing off the other as it leapt on me, fangs bared. He whined when he landed against a rocky outcrop in the middle of the brook but I paid no mind as the third wolf bit deep in my arm. I howled, pained and furious and summoned up my strength, my hands clenching fistfuls of skin and fur as I yanked him off me.

My own blood was what made me strong and though it was dwindling, a good amount of it still lingered in my veins. I let it fill me, take over my mind, let it surge up through my hands as I back handed the wolf from the brook, sending him flying.

The other two tried to come at me from opposite sides but I leapt up, straight up, right into the air and they missed, snarling as I caught hold of the branches, climbing quicker and faster until I reached the top. Leaping from tree top to tree top, I reached territory which was definitely mine, so I could be certain I was within my right when I attacked.

They didn't prepare themselves before I dropped from the branches, much like I had earlier this morning in Canada. I made a dent in a boulder lying near the base and quickly tugged on the tree's roots, sending it crashing, pinning one of the wolves to the ground.

Another wolf's fangs bit into my stomach, shaking me like I was a ragdoll and I roared in pain as its teeth ripped into my midsection. My arms locked themselves around his neck and tugged, pulling him away. I kept him in a tight headlock, my vision filled with red hot anger. I just wanted him to die, to tear, to bleed, to _end._

But suddenly I had to let go as something ploughed into my side, fierce and terrifyingly loud as it howled beside me, trying to rip something off. I almost lost my fingers but I was quick enough. My brain was shut down, too deep in my primal state to recognise anything other than the enemy before me.

One second I was facing off against the last remaining werewolf and then the tree I'd pushed over shuddered and there were two and the werewolf whose neck I almost snapped rejoined the fight, making three.

And however strong I was, I couldn't handle three werewolves. Not on my own, not on the hype of my old power.

I staggered back, screaming as they pushed forwards. _They were going to kill me, _I thought absently. _I've lasted through Sara and David and that heinous bitch, through the Battle, through the __**Volturi **__but of course, some stupid mutt thinking he's a hero would be the end of me. Perfect._

I closed my eyes, ready for the pain when suddenly there was a flicker of shadow. My eyes sprang open and I realised I was no longer alone.

There were suddenly two other wolves in the clearing we'd made, a long sandy one and a huge russet brown creature I immediately identified as the mongrel Jacob Black. I shuddered. Fantastic, I thought, sarcastically:

_My death will be brought to you today by the idiot trying to break up Edward and Bella._

"Get it over with you mutts." I moaned, feeling the sting of the wolves' bites. The sandy wolf cocked its head toward me and growled, low in its throat. But not at me. No, this wolf was obviously crazy because it was growling at the three wolves who had attacked me and they seemed to be backing off, inch by inch but intimidated by the pair.

I sprang to a crouch, defensive and quickly calculating how far it was to the Cullen Mansion from here. _Surely not that far..._one of the wolves snarled at me and I hissed back, trying to keep myself from springing. My side hurt like hell as did my shoulder and apparently they managed to swipe my ankle as well.

I saw a sleek white-grey wolf at the flanks of the sandy one and I realised that something big had happened to put them on opposite sides. The wolves were backing down because they didn't like the idea of a fair fight. Three on three. Even more loaded if you count the wounded vampire they had their side.

The wolves cast me one last glare and darted off, back to their own territory. With them gone, I turned on the others, hissing like a feral cat. "What. The. _Hell?_"

The sandy one barked and I raised an eyebrow, critically. "I'm sorry, I don't speak _Pup_."

It rolled its eyes and disappeared into the bushes for a second, leaving the other two still searching the forest, as if looking out for another attack.

There was rustling and suddenly the werewolf who had attended the wedding, one of the only ones I could actually _stand _for extended periods of time, emerged: Seth Clearwater, clad in a pair of grimy cut off jean shorts.

He looked kind of sheepish actually. "Hey Bree. What're you doing out here? I thought you were back at the house?" he questioned.

I shrugged, delicately. "I felt the need for a late night snack in town." I replied, sarcastically. The grey, smaller wolf growled softly and I rolled my eyes.

"So it _is_ true dogs only see in black and white? My eyes aren't _red. _I went out running." I snapped at her. I was using my gift, working it to see who I was dealing with. **Leah Clearwater** glared daggers at me. Jacob looked slightly on edge but otherwise impassive. I wondered how Bella was doing.

"Where'd you end up?" Seth asked, politely. I chose my words carefully.

"Western Canada." I finally said. "Now is anyone going to inform me why those idiots just tried to kill me on _our _side?" I was usually much nicer than this. However, I'd just been nearly killed. You see what that does to your attitude.

"It's complicated." Seth ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it up and jerking a hand back up to the Cullen House. "C'mon, I'll escort you back up. They won't try anything but it's better to be safe than sorry."

I raised an eyebrow. "_What _is going _on?_" I muttered, wondering when we had werewolves on both sides but following with him nonetheless.

Seth kept to his human form, informing me as we walked about the split in the pack dynamic, about how Jacob had embraced his Alpha blood and split off. About how Seth and Leah had followed and were now guarding us Cullens from Sam's plans to kill Bella and the foetus. About how the situation was worsening.

About how Bella was now drinking _human _blood to satisfy the thing growing in her.

I grimaced and suddenly wondered if I'd have the strength to keep away from the blood. I was good when it was _inside _people. Not so good when it was spilt. Seth caught my expression and assured me. "Don't worry, they only get it out when Jasper goes hunting. So it's not that often and you can leave before they do."

I managed half a smile before we entered the backyard and I was suddenly swept up in a tight hug.

"Bree, you scared the _crap _out of me," Emmett muttered. It was a very good thing I didn't need oxygen at that point. He let me down, only to be swept up again by Alice and a furious looking Jasper.

"Edward told us what happened." He growled, his gaze flitting over the tears in my clothes, the teeth marks. I crossed my arms against my chest, groaning internally. _Thank you __**so **__much Edward. _

Seth's shoulders sagged. "We were watching the perimeter but we didn't see them in time. We didn't even know she was coming back _in_. Jake was the only one who knew Bree'd gone." He explained, sounding apologetic. Alice shook her head, her face dark.

"This is going too far. They shouldn't have been on our land in the first place, treaty or no treaty. This gives us the right to invade their territory you know?" she growled, angrily. Seth held up his hands in surrender.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger. It was Collin, Brady and one of the really newer kids Christopher. They were probably just trying to earn points with the pack- they're young, people don't take them as seriously." Seth tried to explain, casting me a knowing look. I sighed, understanding what it was like to be the baby of the family. "I gotta go, Jake's probably wondering what took so long." He gave a half-hearted wave and darted off back across the yard, phasing once he was near the edge.

As soon as he disappeared, Jasper turned to me, sternly. "Canada? I thought you were going to hunt for a while, not change countries!"

I shrugged, moodily. "I just wanted some distance for the night. Apparently I missed all the good stuff. Mutt fights, pack splits, new guard dogs, blood drinking monsters- oh wait, I guess we already had that one covered." I added, sarcastically. I tried to expel the feelings of anger and retaliation I so desperately wanted to unleash on the idiots who'd tried to kill me.

Jasper put a hand on my shoulder, guiding me inside. Emmett walked beside me, glancing at me every now and then. "You made us worried little sis." He admitted, mussing up my hair. I flinched away, glaring playfully.

"And do you know how Emmett worries?" Alice asked, rhetorical with annoyance. "He paces a hole in the floor and then picks a fight with my husband, thus shredding the very expensive shirt I bought him last Christmas." She scowled.

I sighed, smiling. "I'll buy you another one Alice okay? And then you can give it Jasper and make everything right in the world again."

"It was a Prada shirt, Bree Ophelia Cullen-oops, I mean," Alice hastily tried to cover up her mistake but I waved it off.

"No, it's okay. I like it. Bree Cullen. It feels right." I told her, smiling slightly. Jasper quirked an eyebrow at me.

"Okay, something very strange is happening with your moods Bree Ophelia Cullen." He said, adding my new full name onto the end, mockingly. "You're...happy."

I shrugged. "I guess almost dying changes people." Although I was also a little confused about my sudden emotional U-Turn. Jasper's face hardened as we entered the lounge room.

"Not funny."

"A little funny." I amended, making my way to where Esme was speaking with her husband and adopted mind reading son. She beamed at me with relief as I neared her.

"Oh my goodness, where_ were _you? Edward came racing in this morning from Bella's room saying you were being _attacked. _Bree, you have to be more careful, what if they'd-" she babbled, hugging me. I hugged her back, still feeling the leftovers of my fear from before.

"They were on our territory this time Esme," Emmett growled, cracking his knuckles. I nodded.

"I was keeping to the line, making sure I didn't cross the brook. I told them I was on my side and then one of them just leapt over and they started following me." I recounted, shuddering. Werewolves and I obviously did not mix well.

Esme's fingers fluttered, light as butterflies, down to the scars on my stomach and shoulder and Carlisle gestured to the dining table we didn't use. I sat up on it and he checked the wounds, nodding when he was finished. "They're not too bad. It's a good thing you hadn't used up _all _your human blood strength- they would've gutted you otherwise." He cautioned but hugged me too.

Inexplicably, I picked up on the past tense. My brow furrowed. "What do you mean 'hadn't'? I'm still newborn aren't I?"

Suddenly, with painful realization, I remembered that the last time I looked in the mirror was almost two weeks ago. "Carlisle, what colour are they?" I murmured to him, trying not to get my hopes up.

The golden eyed doctor held up one of the scalpels from his First Aid Kit and I took it, tilting it til I could see the reflection of my eyes.

They were gold. Pure, undiluted gold, if only a little dark at the edges. I beamed for a second before there was a scream from upstairs and the attention was diverted back into our crisis situation. _Yep,_ I thought, climbing the stairs, slowly. _Definitely a Cullen._

* * *

**A/N: Good? Bad? Indifferent? This will be the last for a week or so, my laptop is undergoing surgery for a few days.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: THANKYOU FOR BEING SO PATIENT WITH ME EVERYONE!**

**P.S I really enjoyed this chapter. In my head, Edward finding out about Renesmee and Jacob is hilarious.**

* * *

**Damned  
**_she.s. .one  
__**Chapter Seven**_

It became routine for Jasper, Emmett, Alice and I to take off hunting whenever Bella drank human blood. Jasper and I couldn't handle ourselves and Em and Alice just needed a break sometimes.

Alice was suffering from headaches due to the instability of Bella's future and trying to keep tabs on everyone else.

"Come _on _Em, just finish it." Alice called out, laughing as she watched her older brother and husband tag team on a pair of grizzlies who'd come out from hibernation or were entering it soon. I didn't know which, all I knew was that it was hilarious watching Emmett do bear impersonations and tell stupid bear-related jokes, doing his best to piss it off.

Because of the open season that had been declared on all vampires and the fact that we didn't _really _want to make things harder for the wolves on our side by killing the others, we'd been forced to hike further up and out of Forks to hunt.

"Okay, okay, one more." He said, grinning. Jasper had already finished his bear and was now watching beside Alice as Emmett stood proudly up to the grizzly, which was reared back severely ticked off. "What do you get when you cross a grizzly and a harp?"

He suddenly dodged the powerful blow from the animal and grinned when it roared in frustration. "Don't know? Hey now, don't yell, it's okay, I didn't know it either. You get a _bear-faced lyre!_ Get it?"

I moaned, trying to suppress the giggles rising in my throat. "Aw jeez Emmett, let the poor thing have its fight already, you're just pissing it off for the hell of it." I called over to him. Alice rolled her eyes.

"Jazz, come on. He's going to be here for a little while longer. We'll meet you back at the house okay?" she told me and I nodded, waving goodbye as they took off, golden eyes bright.

Behind me, I could hear Emmett's terrible jokes and I could understand why they were leaving early:

"Why was the little bear so spoiled?"

Bear: Roar.

"Because its mother _panda'd_ to its every whim!"

Bear: Bigger roar.

I turned back to Emmett. "Emmett _Dale _Cullen, hurry up!" I called over to him as he prepared for another round of bear jokes, his face frozen with shock.

The grizzly took the opportunity and swiped at him, cracking down on his shoulder which did nothing but fracture a bone in its paw. It roared with pain.

Emmett span back around and wrestled with the bear, taking the hits that sent him flying and countering with jumps and hits of his own.

At some point, he led the bear close to the boulder I was perched on, smirking. "Who...told you...?" he grunted, pressing against the grizzly, which was pressing back just as hard. Standing it was almost eleven feet tall.

I shrugged, smugly. "No one. I just dug around a little bit." I reminded him and he groaned.

He gained a foot or two on the bear and glanced at my smug expression. "At least _I _don't go crazy and drown myself." He pointed out his old argument.

I snorted. "No, you don't," I agreed, struggling to contain myself. "You're just the goofy, dim-witted half of the Disney chipmunk team." I couldn't hold in my laughter at the thought of Emmett running around with two buck teeth and a bright red nose.

The bear roared and pushed harder against Emmett, making him loose a few inches. He finally yelled, loud and low, throwing the bear off to one side and in a flash, he was around at its head, teeth at its neck. He drained it, taking a couple of minutes but eventually finishing, grinning up at me with a ghastly bloody smile. "Could Dale have done _that?_" he questioned, victoriously.

I considered the question. "Well...maybe if the grizzly had taken your acorns." I replied, laughing when he dove from the bear's limp body, racing after me. But I was smaller and therefore faster and I had run two miles and scaled up a tree before he could catch me.

He looked up at me, still grinning with blood across his cheeks and shirt. He was a terribly messy eater. "Aw come on Ophelia, don't you wanna give me a _hug?_" he called up at me. My eyes widened.

"Alice will tear me apart if she finds out I ruined _another _outfit." I called back down, warily. "I'll be ashes before you know it." The light up here was a little clearer and stray rays of sunshine flitted down through the canopy, setting our skin off in a blaze of colourful rainbows.

Emmett shrugged and darted down to where a stream was making its way slowly through the forest, washing off the blood and groaning at the sight of the stains on his shirt. "You're not the only one who'll be burnt by that little pixie." He grumbled, buttoning it up as best he could.

I climbed back down and washed off the little blood I had on my face and arms leftover from the mountain lion I'd gone after. The carnivores always tasted better. "Hey Em?" I asked after a few minutes.

"Yeah?"

"Did you...did you want kids? When you were human? Like Rose did?" I asked him, curious. My adopted brother glanced at me, brow furrowed but thoughtful.

"No, not really." He said slowly. "I was only twenty when I was changed- I was pretty much happy with being a young man, flirting with girls, gambling, drinking, hunting. I didn't really want to tie myself down."

He paused, shrugging. "I thought I was too young. My mother used to tell me it was stupid of me to think that way but I figured if I savoured my freedom in my youth then I'd have enough good memories for the rest of my life."

I raised my eyebrows. "You know marriage isn't that bad of an institution." I murmured, teasingly as we started wandering at a human pace.

Emmett grinned, nudging me in the side. "Maybe. But who wants to live in an institution?"

"Case and point." I giggled but my eyebrows twitched together after a moment. "Do you regret being changed?"

Emmett shook his head, slowly again. "No. I guess I was frozen at a time when I thought being young was the best thing in the world. I get to be young for the rest of my life, right? Not that bad. And I have Rose and a family and an entire eternity where I get to be free. I wonder sometimes, what would've happened if I had kids. I reckon, I would've been pretty happy. But I'm happy now. So why worry about the past?"

I blinked, trying to understand my adopted brother's unusually deep mind and was about to ask follow up questions when he poked my arm and pointed back to home and yelled: "Race ya to the Forks line!" and took off without a second thought. _Cheater._

My jaw dropped in indignation. "You bare-faced liar!" I called after him, pouring on the speed to catch up as he zoomed on ahead, laughing.

-''-''-''-

When we arrived back at the house, the first thing I smelled was the blood.

It was _everywhere. _

On the couch, on the ground, up the stairs, _on _the stairs. I staggered back, shaking and desperately trying to retain my control. But it was too hard.

Blood, blood, blood. Red, dark and light, smeared across the house. The smell permeating everything. I tensed my muscles and sprang forward like an arrow being released-

-only to be caught a split second later.

I thrashed and screamed as Emmett held me back, his big arms wrapped around my stomach as I lurched away from him, struggling to reach the source of all that _delicious _blood. My brain was shutting down, I could feel it. My vision grew narrow, focused on the dark red smears along the walls and floor.

"Emmett, hold on to her!" Alice's voice trilled.

"A...lice..." I stammered, my mouth watering with venom. She came to my side, grabbing my hand and calling for Jasper. "I...can't..." I tried to tell her, tried to warn her. At that moment, I was immensely glad I wasn't a newborn any longer, that my power had run out.

She nodded her head, understanding. "Take her outside, Jasper's out there with Rosalie already." She ordered and the dark red disappeared, giving way to the multitude of greens of Forks' forests.

I could see Jasper and Rosalie in the clearing, golden heads darting here and there as she struggled to get around him with little success.

I screamed, my brain drawing to the conclusion that I was getting further and further away from my blood source and therefore making more time for someone else to sneak in.

I hissed, wriggling out of Emmett's grasp, going straight in for the kill, twisting and writhing blindly, following the scent of that _smell._

It recalled memories- memories of violence and fear and loneliness and pain and I had an idea, a crazy idea, that if I could just have a tiny _taste _of that heavenly smell, all of it would disappear forever.

And I so _wanted _it to disappear.

I sprang away from Emmett and almost got past the tree line before Jasper appeared, tugging me back. I was going to sink my teeth into his left forearm but there were suddenly another pair of hands, pulling my head back, craning it upwards and I caught a glimpse of long blonde hair tangling with my own dark strands. Rosalie.

I screamed louder and louder, wrestling and twitching but finally the scent started to recede from my frenzied mind and I started to understand that the hands holding me back weren't trying to kill me but protect me.

That they weren't enemies but my family. That they were trying to help me, save me from making the biggest mistake I'd ever make in my hopefully long existence.

"I have to get back," I heard Rosalie murmur. "Emmett, can you make sure she's okay before she comes inside?"

"Sure babe." He replied, kissing her cheek before her hands around my neck disappeared and my view of the stars was interrupted by my for-all-intents-and-purposes big brother. "Hey Oaf." He teased and I snapped my teeth together with an audible _click!_

But somehow, he could tell I was just messing with him for the nickname. "This whole middle name thing is getting old Dale." I told him as Jasper gingerly released me, stepping away in case I tried to make a run for it. I just stretched out my muscles, making sure they were all there. I didn't think I'd have been able to tell if someone had ripped something off.

"Trust me, this is going to be going on for centuries." Jasper muttered to me, watching me carefully. I eyed him back, just as wary but for a different reason. "Are you feeling better?"

I nodded, slowly. "Yeah," I shuddered at the thought of all the blood. "What _was _that?"

"Bella's in labour. The placenta detached and she just started to..." Jasper trailed off, shaking his head quickly as if to rid himself of the memory. "But are you better? In control?"

I nodded again, growing more and more clear. Jasper turned to Emmett. "Go see how it's coming. Bree and I will sit this one out."

Emmett nodded, tipped an imaginary hat to me and sped off into the fading light of the afternoon. I waited until I couldn't hear his footfalls anymore before I turned to Jasper, an accusing eye trained on him. "Jasper, I went after Bella." I stated.

He nodded. "I know."

"I went after her _blood._"

"I know."

"If Emmett hadn't been there, I would've gotten to her. _Edward and the mutt wouldn't have stopped me!_" I yelled, flinging my arms out. Jasper simply looked at me, impassively.

"I know."

I scowled at him. "What happened to your promise? I'm meant to be dead right now." I snarled, reminding him of the vow he'd made to me the day I met Bella for the first time, properly.

"I know," Jasper sighed. "But Bree you're part of the family now. I could kill you now like you want but I'd have an entire coven of vampires furious with me. You'd leave a gap too big to fill." He explained, seriously.

I shook my head, frustrated. "Jasper, what if Em had gone back with you and Alice? What if I was alone? What if I got up to that..._room,_" I shuddered, thinking of just how much blood I'd smelled upstairs. "And Edward was too busy helping Bella to take care of me? What if Jacob phased and ended up killing Bella _and _the baby? You can't leave me alone like that. None of you can. If I can't handle it, I'm better off dead."

The blonde vampire snorted. "I highly doubt that. Alice might not speak to me for centuries she'd be so furious, Carlisle and Esme would lose one of their children, Edward, Emmett, Rosalie, they all lose their little sister. Even Bella would be upset." He pointed out. "You're better off _here. _Never let anyone tell you differently Bree. And as for not being able to handle it, well we won't have to very soon." Jasper added on after a moment.

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Bella's heart stopped beating when the baby came." He looked me dead in the eye. "Edward and the dog have been trying to keep her heart going long enough for Edward to put his venom in her."

My eyes narrowed at him. "How do you know all that? You've been back there?" I marvelled at how he must've done it. The control.

But Jasper shook his head. "No. Alice has been my eyes and ears inside the house. She comes back out with news every now and then. It's not looking good. In fact, if Edward didn't do this right- there's a very real possibility Bella won't make it through the change."

I couldn't contain a gasp. Edward was already tormented. If she _actually _died because _he _didn't get there fast enough...there was no force on heaven or earth that could stop him from begging the Volturi for death.

Sure enough, there were the very light footsteps of Alice a few seconds before she hit, hugging Jasper and kissing him deeply. I looked away, awkward. When they pulled away, Alice drew in a shaky breath. "Edward got the venom in. It _looks _like it's taking. But...we have bigger problems."

I raised an eyebrow. "Bigger than the birth of a half-vampire kid, the unstable changing of its human mother and the equally unstable state of its vampire father as he torments himself over the decision and possible outcomes of _changing _said human mother?" I asked, sceptically.

Alice's butterscotch eyes narrowed. "Yes. Because remember the mutt who loves the human mother? Guess what he just did to the half-vampire _daughter?_"

I shrugged, unknowingly but something flickered to life on Jasper's face- amazement, shock, disgust and...anger? "No. _No. _Oh this is bad." He breathed, kneading the palms of his hands into his eye sockets in a very human gesture.

"What? What'd he do?" I asked, not quite knowing if I wanted to hear the answer.

Alice looked at me, her eyes wide and helpless. "When werewolves find their mates, they know the second they lay eyes on her. It's called imprinting. It's pretty intense. The pair revolve around each other, like gravity and orbits. Jacob saw Renesmee in Rosalie's arms and...well, he imprinted on her."

-''-''-''-

I wish I could say I wasn't there for Edward's reaction to Jacob's imprinting on his newborn daughter.

I cannot however, because it's one of the things that no matter how old I may become, I will remember for the rest of my entire eternity.

"He _**WHAT?!**_"

Edward had been focusing so hard on Bella that any other thoughts he'd picked up had slipped from his attention like sand through fingers. He hadn't cared. Now that Bella was lying still and white and cold upstairs in the emergency ward Carlisle had set up in the library, her heart frantically changing into one as still as my own, he could remember, re-hear and refocus.

On things he could've really done not knowing about.

Edward stalked forwards, creeping further and further toward Jacob, his stance like a lion's- deadly and precise. I had a feeling he was already aiming for the jugular. But strangely enough, Jacob stood his ground, casting very nervous glances toward the baby girl resting in Rosalie's arms every now and then.

Jasper and I stayed behind Jacob, using the horrible stench to keep Renesmee's smell, whatever it might offer, masked. And also, Jasper figured, to pull Jacob out of the way if Edward _really _got going. I could've laughed if the situation weren't so tense: I wasn't even game to _look _at Edward too long while he was moving like that.

"You couldn't have just left." He hissed, so softly, I thought perhaps he hadn't said anything. "You couldn't have just disappeared. Gone and lived your life somewhere else, somewhere you could be your filthy _pup _self without _destroying _my existence."

Jacob cast more glances toward Renesmee, whom Rosalie tightened her hold on, scowling at Jacob. But wisely, he chose to keep quiet.

Edward slipped slightly further into his crouch, tensed and ready to spring. His eyes were too bright, too lethal. My instinct was begging me to keep my head down: not to attract this vampire's attention.

He continued, his voice rising slightly. "No, you had to keep at it- keep trying to take _everything _I'm living for. First Bella, who you couldn't have. But you tormented her, kept her constantly trying to keep everyone happy at her own cost. You still couldn't have her though. So now? Now, you go after _my daughter! _The "_monster_" you wanted killed! The "_abomination_" you wanted destroyed-!"

"It's _different _now!" Jacob yelled, his eyes glued to Edward's newborn daughter. They were soft, tender but bright and clear and I knew that imprinting was something that shaped life for werewolves. This was not a choice. This was something higher. "It wasn't Bella! It never was. _That's _why I loved her so much-"

"Because you were _AFTER HER DAUGHTER?!_" I'd never heard Edward yell with such righteous fury before but it chilled me to the bone. "You keep taking things that _aren't yours! Bella is __**my **__wife. Renesmee is __**my **__daughter! I have barely even held her and already you've __**claimed **__her as your __**own!**__"_

Jacob shook his head, frustrated. I marvelled at him. He wasn't scared. No, he was simply anxious to get back to Renesmee who was stirring in her aunt's arms. His Renesmee. His imprint. It was too surreal for me. "It's not a choice! We're _tied_! I'm _never _going to be able to _live_ without her! I'm _never_ going to be able to _breathe_ while she's in danger! I'm _always _going to be thinking of her, _waiting_ for when I can see her! _This isn't going to go away!"_ Jacob roared back, his fists trembling.

They stood there, facing each other, looking so similar and so different and so, _so _passionate that I didn't even try to guess who would be winning this argument. Finally, Edward closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose. When he spoke, it was through fritted teeth. "Black, get out of my house for a while. Give me time to _try _and not want to destroy you."

There was a pause where all that could be heard was the faint fluttering of my niece's heartbeat and the changing heart of my sister-in-law upstairs. "Just..._go._"

Another pause.

The _slam! _of the front door.

The _rip! _of a pair of denim cut offs.

And heartbroken, mind-numbing, sorrow filled howls that invaded the night.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Drop me a review if you have an opinion good bad or indifferent :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry! So, so sorry! There's no excuse, I'm horrible and cruel...  
Sorry!**

**Lots of apologetic love,  
Shy.**

* * *

**Damned  
**_she.s. .one  
__**Chapter Eight**_

* * *

It took a while for the baby-fever to calm down enough for Rosalie to let me hold my new niece. The second day into Bella's changing was the first time I was allowed to take her from Esme's arms, Rosalie hovering beside me.

Jacob had been the worst. He refused to let me anywhere near Renesmee for hours before Jasper finally calmed him down enough that he, very tensely I might add, '_let_' me into the nursery. I rolled my eyes. If I wanted him to move, I could've thrown him from the window.

Esme smiled at me, easing the little girl into my arm, helping me support the head and I looked into her face, mesmerized by the beauty there.

She was perfect. Her features were very delicate, some from Bella, some from Edward. Her doe eyes were wide and framed with long lashes, the colour a very deep, enchanting chocolate brown. They were precisely the same as her mother's. But there were already curls growing on her head which were light and shiny and penny-coloured. The exact same shade as her father's.

It was incredibly strange, the way the little baby girl smelled: it was wonderful, the lingering scent of her mother mixed with the enticing aspects of her father's and something else uniquely _her_. But it didn't make me as thirsty as I would've been normally, as if she were bewitching me to ignore the burn in my throat. Just the right amount of vampire for me to ignore it. I merely smiled at her, enchanted by this little angel who had caused all this trouble to get here.

But I could see it was worth it. The destruction had brought about a stronger sense of unity- I could see by the way everyone fawned over her, smiling and watching her like the most incredible play that was ever performed.

They could barely tear their eyes away and I knew that for all the havoc Renesmee Cullen had wrought, she had made up for it within her first twenty four hours.

I glanced over at Jasper with a questioning look and he looked speculative. I knew he could handle it if I could. Alice nodded at him, gesturing for him to go.

"_Do you want to hold her?_" I mouthed and he merely glided over, taking a second to pause and sniff at the peculiar scent Renesmee gave off. He nodded once and I passed him to her slowly.

I hadn't been expecting her to retaliate.

Renesmee's eyes suddenly became trained on me and she let out a small little wail of protest, her hand reaching out for my face. I froze under the warm hand as suddenly a flow of images assaulted my brain.

I saw face after face of smiling Cullens, hands passing me around, eyes softening at my face. Then the image changed and I was staring at Bella, her face bloody and sweaty but her expression adoring as she held me. And then my own face and I felt a wave of recognition flow through me. But the feeling wasn't my own.

Suddenly, the light weight in my arms disappeared and the flow of images ceased, leaving me gasping, my brain whirling as it drew conclusions with no evidence. "What was that?" I wheezed, swallowing.

Alice steadied me, her face concerned. "What? What happened? You just _froze _up."

Edward sprinted downstairs, his eyes wide and dark. He'd been staying very close to Bella as she changed for the past two days. She wasn't screaming, which apparently, wasn't normal. He thought there was something wrong with her. "_What the hell was that?_" he hissed, staring at me.

I shook my head jerkily. "I- I don't know. It was like, one second I was holding her and the next I was seeing these...memories."

Rosalie had snatched Renesmee back and was now trying to assure Jacob that she was perfectly fine as she wriggled slightly, irritated. Edward stared at his daughter. "She showed you memories. She showed you...her memories." He echoed himself, hoarsely.

My breath left me with a whoosh. "I saw Bella. And all your faces. I felt like I was being passed around. Yes, I think it was her." I realised, watching the little girl as she fussed.

Wisely, Jacob moved out of his way as he walked toward Renesmee. Edward held his arms out to Rosalie expectantly and she hesitated for a second. Edward didn't seem to notice, merely taking his daughter into his grasp and staring at her lovely face. I knew he had softened to her immediately- he saw Bella in her and therefore immediately loved her.

Renesmee reached out her hand and touched her father's face and for a few tense minutes, he stared blankly, probably listening to Renesmee's peculiar gift.

He shook out of it, his face incredulous. "She thought we all knew." He murmured.

I laughed once, bleakly and Jacob beamed at the little girl, obviously proud of her. "My little Nessie's amazing."

Rosalie shook her head, astonished but smiling. "She's gifted alright."

Edward glanced up at me. "Bree reminded her of Bella. They have the same sort of hair colour and pale skin. Renesmee knew it wasn't her but she's concerned. She doesn't understand why Bella isn't here with us." He explained. I frowned. The poor baby didn't know that her mother was upstairs experiencing the worst pain of her entire life.

"I'll hold her," I said to Edward who nodded and passed her back to me. Renesmee snuggled into my grasp, burrowing her head in my neck. The smell made flames appear in my throat but again, it was possible to push it away. Something about Renesmee made it difficult to want to kill her, I guess.

Edward glanced back to the stairs. "Bree, can you go upstairs and show Bella to Renesmee. I'd do it but I need to... have a few words with Jacob here." He ground out. "I'll meet you up there."

Jacob looked anxiously toward me, not frightened for himself but for Renesmee. I felt sympathy well up in my chest and nodded to him, catching his eye. "She'll be fine. She's just..." Experimentally, I put Renesmee's hand to my cheek and I felt an echo of her exhaustion. "Tired." I finished.

He nodded, looking relieved as he followed my brother out onto the back lawn. Rosalie bit her lip, watching me and I rolled my eyes. "Honestly Rosalie, I'll be fine. I'll just be upstairs with Bella alright?" I told her, zipping up the staircase and following the frantic heart beats down the hall.

Someone had cleared up the blood but the smell lingered somewhat. I took a moment to collect myself before entering the makeshift emergency delivery room.

Bella was lying, pale and still on the table, bright lights reflected down on her body. Someone, probably Alice, had dressed her in an expensive blue cocktail dress that went well with her icy cold complexion.

She looked dead.

I wondered, idly, if she was just pretending not to be awake or if the morphine had worked. I doubted it. I doubted all the drugs in the world could've drowned out the burning agony every vampire experienced.

Edward had told me there was a vampire in the Volturi, Alec, the demon child Jane's _twin _that could actually cut off all your senses, make you totally and utterly blind, deaf, mute and unable to know if you were moving or not. I wondered if his power could silence the burning.

Most of all, I wondered what I must've looked like when I was dying. I had screamed a lot even though it did no good. Wasn't it harder not to scream though?

I was about to show Renesmee her mother when I realised her breathing had slowed and she'd fallen into a deep sleep in my arms, her fingers tangled in my hair. I bounced her, experimentally. It felt strange to move in the unnecessary motions. I could hold still for days at a time if I needed to.

"Renesmee, this is your mom. This is my sister, or sister-in-law," I corrected in a soft voice. "She's done a lot to get you here. She's broken bones, bruised skin, drunken blood, tortured our family, driven us all insane. But she knew what she was doing. She's good like that. It worked out in the end. So now you're going to have to deal with the mongrel and this imprint bullshit. I'm sure he's going to be a pain. But I think you'd be upset if we killed him right?"

Her sleeping form offered me no answers though, so I chuckled and stroked her back slowly. I wondered if Jacob was still alive.

"You're going to have entire family of freaks to look after you, you know." I informed her, teasing her. "Rosalie's obsessed with maternity and appearances. Alice sees the future, Jasper screws with your emotions. Emmett is like a kid trapped in adult form. Carlisle's _perfect _and smart and you're going to wonder how he does it every day of your life. Esme's going to spoil you rotten.

Your daddy's a paranoid psycho but he loves you and your mom so much. Me? Well, I'm sixteen going on forever and I'm pretty screwed up myself. My control isn't that great. But we love you. Nessie, that's what Jacob called you right? Well Nessie, you're going to be adored for the rest of your life. Good luck surviving."

* * *

As it turned out, Edward had calmed enough to dig deep enough into Jacob's thoughts to understand the nature of his daughter's imprint.

Jacob would be the best protector, best big brother, best friend and best boyfriend Renesmee could ever possibly have when the time came and while he wasn't crazy about it, he could see that Nessie loved Jake too.

Rosalie was hating him more and more each day as Nessie learned that when Jacob held her, she wasn't passed around so much and he played more games with her.

Therefore, naturally, she wanted to be held by the wolf. Which pissed Rose off something terrible.

"I don't see how he can just _monopolize _her like that and get away with it!" she seethed. We were curled up on the couch, Rosalie going through catalogues to find more baby clothes for Renesmee.

She was growing at an absurdly fast rate which made us all nervous and amazed at the same time. She looked more like a toddler than a baby now, her proportions leaner and more evened out.

As such Rosalie and Alice were taking it upon themselves to create a cover for her- a baby album that appeared to stretch over years rather than days. Truthfully, I knew they were just having as much fun with her as they could _while _they could, in case Nessie turned to have the same aversion to shopping that her mother had.

I shrugged, ploughing my way through Cassandra Clare's _The Mortal Instruments. _I could bookworm in peace now that the drama was lessening.

"He imprinted on her Rose, you have to respect that. The poor guy can't live without her and she's just as fond of him. Just let them have their time. Besides, Edward won't let him stay the night here. You'll have her then." I pointed out.

"But when Bella wakes up, her parents will take over night duty. Edward's already creeping in as it is." Rosalie practically wailed. I frowned, knowing that having to give up her role as main protector of Renesmee was paining her.

"Rose, it's not like they're going to _ban _you from seeing her." I assured the beautiful blonde beside me. Her shoulders sagged and she tossed the catalogue on the coffee table carelessly.

"I know but...I feel like it's passing too quickly." She admitted, softly. "I don't want it to end. It's never going to happen again." Rosalie suddenly stood and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm going to go find Emmett. If that _dog,_" she called out to the lounge room, making sure Jacob could hear. "isn't done with Nessie by then, I'm going to _throw _him out."

Jacob snorted out in the lounge room and then answered Nessie's silent question ("No, your aunt is just being funny."), assuring her gently.

"It's my _turn_," she snarled, irritated. I rolled my eyes as Rosalie disappeared up to her room, leaving me along with my novel. I flipped the pages, throwing myself into the storyline of Clary and Jace and Simon, of demons and angels and conspiracies and trying to ignore the thoughts buzzing around in my brain.

It worked efficiently enough.

* * *

When Alice had the vision of Bella awakening, almost everyone zipped upstairs, anxious to welcome our new sister into the vampire life. I remembered when I'd first woken, the screams and damage I'd done to the Changing Room as Riley called it.

Vaguely, I wondered how Bella was going to react to seeing us all for the first time. It was certainly different from our weak human gazes, vampire eyes. Even now, my eyes flitted briefly to the wood patterns in the ceiling, absently tracing the lines and grains.

And then my eyes came to Bella.

She was beautiful. As a human, she'd been pretty, striking in a sort of quiet way, but now...she was totally and utterly dazzling. Her hair was shinier and softer and hung away from her perfect face with all the changes: her cheekbones sharper and defined, her nose elegantly sloped, eyelashes thick and feathery. And of course her skin caught every glint of light and reflected it off the smooth alabaster surface, casting a luminous glow around her.

Silently, Jasper ushered us all behind him and Emmett. All but Rosalie and Jacob, who were downstairs caring for Renesmee, stayed perfectly still and I realised that Bella was stronger than all of us now. Randomly, I matched it to the Newborn Battle, newborns versus the Cullens. It was a little different but it was so strange to be on the opposite side of the newborns this time.

Alice rolled her eyes, peeking around Jasper's shoulder as Bella's heartbeat picked up, racing panicked-ly, the same way my victims' hearts raced before I killed them, when I was in Seattle. I tried to swallow the comparison but a grimace made its way across my face. Jasper's gaze twitched to where I was, perched next to his Alice and he raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged, not wanting to go into the details of my sudden self-loathing when there was a job to do.

Just as quickly as it had begun, Bella's heart's sudden pick up cut off, abruptly. The silence was perfectly still, held in by the immortal beings in the room with me. And then her eyes opened.

She took it all in, her face totally still, frighteningly,_ glowingly,_ red eyes unreadable. I could already feel my guard raising as I watched them twitch in focus, landing on the wood grains in the ceiling, the light bulb overhead, the dust motes in the air. She inhaled suddenly and, upon discovering she _could _breathe, began inhaling, tasting the air for the first time.

I exhaled softly, a breath I hadn't noticed I was holding. Jasper and Emmett's gaze were concentrated on her as Edward carefully squeezed the hand he was holding. Her reaction was instantaneous. Bella hissed, wildly and flipped backward, her brilliant eyes focused on her surroundings.

It chilled me to the bone to see the once timid, lovely human Bella as she was now: cold, unemotional, a pale, icy predator and nothing more.

I could almost feel Edward's glare on my face even though he never turned from his Bella. _It's true Edward, _I told him, my posture held just a little further down, ready to crouch and spring if need be. _She should hunt before she goes near Renesmee though. _I added and his back eased just a fraction of a degree down.

And then it was like someone had flicked a switch. Bella was barely in her crouch before she snapped out of it, her eyes suddenly focused on her husband's face, her eyes softening, her face smooth with total wonder as she took it in with new eyes. I frowned at the change and wondered if she was preparing to race away. Jasper's hand twitched just a miniscule bit, like he was thinking the same thing.

"Bella?" Edward murmured, calm and collected although I knew he was freaking out internally. "Bella, love? I'm sorry, I know it's disorientating. But you're all right. Everything is fine."

Was she going to pounce? Was she going to make a break? Was this even Bella? Why was she so unresponsive? Her eyes suddenly filled with as many questions as my own and my head began to..._twist. _There was no other word for it but it seemed like my mind was beginning to twist and pull and ache as a sudden influx of truths appeared, unfiltered and wrathful.

**She's worried...**

**...not going to jump...**

**...wondering about things...**

**...unfocused...**

**...confused...**

I gritted my teeth, pushing all of them away from me, my stomach beginning to roll with the pressure of them all. What the _hell _was going on?

Bella threw her arms around Edward, her frighteningly familiar eyes aglow as she held him. Edward grimaced and I could almost hear the cracks that would've sounded if he'd been human. All of his ribs for one thing, both shoulders and both arms as well. Probably both legs.

"Um...carefully, Bella. Ow."

My brain started to cool down from the sudden onslaught, enough for me to garner the amusement of the statement. Bella made Edward say _ow. _Oh this was priceless. _You're going to be hearing about this for the next century. _I thought to him, idly.

Bella mouthed an apologetic 'oops' and smiled a tiny, small smile that was dazzling in its beauty.

"Don't panic love," Edward ran his fingertips over her face. "You're just a bit stronger than I am for the moment."

She looked totally incomprehensive of the idea but slowly brought her own hand up to his face and stared at him. I knew she was seeing the face she loved, her husband, her life, her total universe. A long streak of longing went coursing through me but I smothered it, trying to concentrate. "I love you." Bella said in a voice like bells.

"As I love you," Edward murmured and I had to look away as they kissed, more fiercely in love than ever. How was she doing this? How was she not attacking him? The questions flitted in my brain but no more truths appeared, something I was grateful for.

Emmett cleared his throat, a mischievous light glinting in his eyes. "You've been holding out on me," Bella accused as they pulled away and Edward laughed.

"It was sort of necessary at the time. Now it's your turn not to break _me._" He reminded her. Her face looked confused again but I knew the idea was slowly filtering into her head.

Jasper shadowed Carlisle's steps as he wandered forwards, questioning Bella about the change and her control. I eyed her, my incredulity growing. She wasn't running? Wasn't leaping? She wasn't tearing things apart in a rage? She didn't even seem to be angry. She'd just gone through _hell. _How was she not upset? How was she not disorientated?

"It's hard to remember. It was so dark before. And then...I opened my eyes and I could see _everything._" She said slowly. **It was just as excruciating. She's trying to spare Edward from knowing.**

I smothered the thought under a load of astonished, nerve-wracking questions, trying to hide it from Edward. "Oh, I'm so sorry Bella. Of course, your thirst must be very uncomfortable. This conversation can wait." Carlisle was suddenly saying, his voice apologetic.

I braced myself, waiting for the mention of the thirst to drive Bella over the edge but she did nothing of the sort. She merely clasped a hand around her throat, shocked at the mention of hunting with Edward while her husband consoled her.

My brain caught up with the conversation. She wanted to see Renesmee. _Was she __**crazy?**_ Edward informed her of the risks, reminding her of her own human heritage she'd passed onto her baby and she asked after Jacob, her tone worried and pained.

I choked back a laugh. I wondered if she would be worried when she found out about the imprint. Edward exchanged a wary glance with Carlisle but shot me a sharp look over his shoulder before turning back.

"Jacob is still here, and Charlie still believes that you are sick. He thinks you're in Atlanta right now, undergoing tests at the CDC. We gave him a bad number and he's frustrated." I ducked my heat at the mention of the bad number. Charlie had been in a total panic over Bella's whereabouts which made me feel guilty for lying and saying she was merely sick. But it had to be done. "He's been speaking to Esme."

"I should call him..." Bella murmured to herself.

"With that voice..." I muttered, raising an eyebrow. "Unlikely."

But she wasn't paying attention, suddenly fretting over Jacob. **She thinks he's still in pain. **I had to grit my teeth so not to tell her that he was far from in pain. No, he was downstairs, playing with his darling Renesmee who was probably very frustrated that all her favourite playmates had disappeared on her.

"We have all the time in the world for explanations, love." Edward reminded her and Bella nodded, acquiescing to the demand that she hunt.

"Wait, wait, wait," Alice trilled, suddenly darting forward. "You promised I could be there the first time! What if you two run past something reflective?"

"Alice-"

"It will only take a second!" I flitted out of the room with her, knowing precisely where she was going. Rosalie and Emmett's room was done in tasteful white silk and crimson red satin, twisting and decorated fluidly together. The huge gilt-framed mirror Alice was headed to was perched at one end, wrapped in roses.

"So you can see her now?" I asked her quickly. Alice nodded, beaming.

"I'm so glad I can. I can make sure she's safe again. Oh how beautiful she is now! Not that she wasn't before-" Alice hastened to add but I held a hand up as I lifted the mirror off its stand and gave it back to the little pixie.

"I'm not Edward, Alice." I reminded her with a wry grin and she beamed back at me, flitting back to the room.

It made me feel a little better that Alice could definitely see her again but I still hung toward the edge of the room, in case she made a break for it. I loved Renesmee as much as if Jack had a daughter. As Alice danced back into the room, Jasper hovered near her again, ever watchful. Bella tensed as she took in the rows upon rows of raised vampiric scars, bites that others had been lucky enough to plant on Jasper before he'd killed them.

"Intimidating isn't it?" I said to her, pulling up one corner of my mouth in a smirk. Bella nodded, her eyes darting over my face and down my arms once or twice. I knew she was studying me, looking at the dizzying beauty and pale skin and even at the faint bite marks I'd been unlucky enough to encounter in Seattle.

"Edward gave me grief for not getting you to a mirror before the wedding," Alice called the newborn's attention to her, setting down the mirror beside her. "I'm not going to be chewed out again."

"Chewed out?" Edward echoed, sceptically.

"Maybe I'm overstating things."

"And maybe this has solely to do with your own voyeuristic gratification." He countered and Alice winked at him. I giggled, my eyes on Bella once more as she saw herself for the first time. She looked surprised and then horrified as she took in the beautiful features and stillness, finally flinching as she saw her eyes.

"The eyes? How long?" she whispered, terrified.

"Not too long," I murmured, feeling sympathy for the girl. She'd known what to expect but seeing your eyes glowing with your own blood was unnerving and terrifying to say the least.

"They'll darken up in a few months," Edward comforted her. "Animal blood dilutes the colour more quickly than a diet of human blood. They'll turn amber first, then gold like Bree's did, you remember?"

"_Months?_" Bella stressed, eyes wide. Jasper darted forwards, prepared but alarmed but, nervewrackingly, it was unneeded. "No, I'm fine. It's just...a lot to take it."

I bit my lip, waiting for her to snap but she never did. How is she stopping herself? How is she not lost in her own emotions? "I don't know," Edward murmured and I knew he was answering both Jasper and I.

"What question did I miss?" Bella asked, softly.

"Jasper wonders how you're doing it."

"Doing what?"

"Controlling your emotions, Bella." Jasper cut in, throwing an annoyed look at Edward. He was getting to proud of his Bella. He wasn't thinking properly, he wasn't being careful enough. _You know it's true. _"I've never seen a newborn do that- stop an emotion in its tracks that way. You were upset but when you saw our concern you reigned it in, regained power over yourself. I was prepared to help but you didn't need it. Even Bree wasn't this controlled, even months after her change."

"Don't you feel confused?" I queried her, my brow furrowed. "Angry? Upset? Don't you feel overwhelmed by the emotions? Don't you want to let them out?"

Bella shook her head. "No. Is that wrong?"

"No," Jasper said, his voice unsure.

_She needs to hunt. _I thought to Edward, stressfully. _Now. _"It's very impressive, Bella, but we don't understand it. We don't know how long it can hold."

_Which is a nice way of saying 'we don't know how long you can resist the temptation to become a raging monster' _I thought sarcastically.

"But what do you think?" Alice pressured, pointing to the mirror.

"I'm not really sure," Bella hedged and I could see the fear written plainly across her eyes. **She's looking for flaws to prove it's her. **This truth I let continue on to Edward who sighed, heavily. His eyes were very tender.

"Disappointed?" Bella asked, impassively but there was a hint of teasing to her voice. I stared. How was she so calm?

"Yes." He admitted, laughing. Jasper leaned forward, waiting for the snap, for Bella to turn crazy. But it never came. "I was rather hoping that I'd be able to hear your mind, now that it is more similar to my own. And here I am, frustrated as ever, wondering what could possibly be going on inside your head."

"Oh well, I guess my brain will never work right. At least, I'm pretty." She teased him.

"Bella you have _never _been merely pretty." Edward stated in a growling undertone. My jaw locked. This wasn't good. I could hear Renesmee's heart fluttering downstairs, as if a reminder. _She needs to hunt Edward. Seriously, this won't hold out forever._

Edward pulled away. "All right, all right," he snapped at me and Jasper, although I shrugged, defensively. _It won't!_

"What?"

"You're making Jasper and Bree edgier by the second. They might relax a little when you've hunted." Edward explained. I exchanged a glance with my adopted brother who merely lifted his shoulders elegantly in a 'well-it's-true' kind of fashion.

"We just want you to be comfortable Bella," I chose my words carefully. "It's difficult at first, I know. It'll get better once you're sated." I explained. Bella looked grateful for the advice although I was sure anyone could've given it to her.

But I got the feeling she believed me more, going on the human assumption that because I was so much younger, my memories of waking up were far more clear than anyone else's. The newer-equals-clearer assumption may or may not have been true but I felt awkward asking about it.

"Okay," Bella agreed. "Let's hunt."

* * *

**A/N: [This doesn't change tonnes from here on out guys. Maybe some minor details but it's really just the first few parts I wanted to rewrite.]**

**shy.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hi! So sorry about the erratic update schedule guys, I bit more off than I could chew for the past couple of months and I've been crazy busy. Any changes from the original story I first posted are really minor from here on out though which is good news because it means I can put work to my other fics and of course the sequel for _Damned. _If any of you are _Hunger Games_ or _Phantom of the Opera _fans, please go check out my other fics, I'd love to see your opinion.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed and has been reviewing, it means the world to me. Sorry again, the post should be a little more even but I'm in the midst of planning a trip so from mid-June to late-July, _DO NOT EXPECT UPDATES _because I will be on a lovely little beach in Crete or Santorini :)**

**Much love,**

**Shy x.**

* * *

**Damned  
**_she.s. .one  
__**Chapter Nine**_

I stood, apprehensively with the rest of my family, watching as Bella passed Jacob's stupid test and edged her way up to us, hand in hand with Edward. Her eyes were still bright but just a fraction less so than when she'd woken up and it made me feel a little less nervous about this. Renesmee's life was in danger from her own mother if Bella couldn't control herself. I remembered meeting Bella for the first time and going crazy with the want to kill her.

How awful would it have been if Bella harmed her own baby?

Jasper and Emmett were toward the front, Alice and I on either side and Esme and Carlisle on either side of us. Rosalie stood with Nessie up the back, near the house, standing perfectly still even as Jacob sprinted to her side.

"Shall we?" Edward murmured as they approached and I held my breath, ready to stop Bella from making the biggest mistake of her eternal life if needs be.

Bella's eyes focused on Renesmee and her jaw dropped. "I was out just two days?" she gasped.

I could see where Bella may have been surprised. While we'd all been awake and watched Renesmee grow, even at an alarming pace, Bella had given birth to a baby and woken up to a toddler. Or almost. She was twice the size she had been when she was born and she was already sitting up, stretching toward Bella, impatiently. She seemed frustrated that the one thing she wanted more than anything else was the one thing her loving family wouldn't automatically give her.

Renesmee touched her hand to Rosalie's neck and I heard her reply with a soft, "Yes, that's her."

Renesmee smiled and Bella stepped forward, automatically. Everyone moved too fast for even vampire eyes to track as Jasper and Emmett seemingly appeared in front of Bella, Carlisle and Esme at their flanks. I leapt backward, slipping into a predatory crouch in front of my niece with a trembling Jacob at my side. A little ways away, I could hear Leah and Seth growling off to both sides.

Only Alice held her place. "Oh, give her some credit. She wasn't going to do anything." She scolded us. "You'd want a closer look, too."

Very slowly, everyone relaxed, back into their former positions although I could tell Jasper was watching Bella tightly. I recalled the first time he had watched _me _that way and I knew that the situation was similar- he was protecting something crucially important to his family, from a newborn vampire he wasn't sure could control herself. Except this time, Bella was the threat and the only reason he wasn't being harder on her is because his brother's happiness was critical to him.

While Bella promised she was alright, Jacob was calming himself down, still looking tense at the thought of his beautiful little half-vampirette in the hands of her newborn, possibly crazy mother. "Calm Jacob," I muttered to him. "If you aren't careful, they'll never let you near her again. You're just as much of a threat in Edward's eyes as Bella is in yours." I reminded him, eying his trembling fists.

"I know, it's just...she's _everything._" He whispered, almost brokenly. "I _can't _let her get hurt."

Hesitantly, I put a hand on his bare arm, trying not to flinch away from the flaming hot skin. "She won't. Bella went through hell to bring Nessie in to the world. She'd die before she took her out of it." I comforted, feeling sympathy well up in my throat. I wasn't totally convinced in my own words but Bella's eyes expressed just how much love she had for her daughter.

Jacob said nothing but his hands ceased their tremors and he merely kept his eyes on Bella, flitting every now and then back to Renesmee as if magnets were drawing the irises away to the little girl.

"Jazz, Em, let us through. Bella's got this." Edward was trying to convince his brothers.

"Edward, the risk-"

"Minimal. Listen, Jasper- on the hunt she caught the scent of some hikers who were in the wrong place at the wrong time..." the mind reader began and my eyes bulged as I took in Bella with new eyes. She'd killed someone. Bella, the innocent, beautiful, selfless little human, my _sister_-in-lawhad killed someone. She'd taken a life, cut it like it were loose threads off a rug. Easy as that, doubly as quick.

I looked around and saw many of my family's face were similar to my own although none but Jasper's expressed little surprise and just a hint of the self-loathing I was experiencing. Only Alice's face remained scrutinizing.

"Edward! How could you be so irresponsible?" Carlisle said, his eyes lingering, disappointed, on his son.

"I know, Carlisle, I know. It was just plain stupid. I should have taken the time to make sure we were in a safe zone before I set her loose."

Bella chastened Edward softly for telling us and I felt pity for the girl- I remembered my first bite of human flesh, of human blood. It had been a woman, middle aged, middle class, average looks. Nothing special. But she was part of a world, where she meant everything to a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, a husband, a daughter, a son. And I'd so cruelly ripped her from that world, without a second thought.

Bella had just ripped someone out of their world, entering and destroying it. It was possibly even someone she knew, making everything ten times worse than it already was. But then why was Edward smiling?

"He's absolutely right to rebuke me, Bella." Edward said, grinning. "I made a huge mistake. The fact that you are stronger than anyone I've ever known doesn't change that."

"Tasteful joke, Edward." Alice rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't making a joke. I was explaining to Jasper why I know Bella can handle this. It's not my fault everyone jumped to conclusions." He added and my brain stuck, frozen on his words. _Conclusions?_

"Wait, she didn't hunt the humans?" Jasper clarified, his eyes bulged somewhat.

"She started to. She was entirely focused on the hunt."

"What happened?" Carlisle interjected, eyes bright with learning.

"She heard me behind her and reacted defensively. As soon as my pursuit broke her concentration, she snapped right out of it. I've never seen anything equal to her. She realised at once what was happening and then..._she held her breath and ran away._"

My jaw dropped, and suddenly I couldn't breathe. She..._ran away? _How- but- that's-

"That's not possible." I choked, disbelieving. But I could tell- no pain in my shoulder: he told no lies. This was the truth.

"Whoa, seriously?" Emmett murmured, stunned.

"He's not telling it right," Bella muttered. "He left out the part where I growled at him." _That's _what she was embarrassed about? _**That's **_what she was so guilty over? I swallowed down my rapidly growing anger. How was this fair?

"Did ya get in a few good swipes?" Emmet asked, excitedly. Of course, the idea that someone could get the better of his know-it-all brother was enticing. But I could barely concentrate on that.

"No! Of course not!"

"No, not really? You really didn't attack him?"

"Emmett!"

"Aw, what a waste," Emmett moaned, as if he'd just lost on the last level of a video game. I shook away memories of Jack and Michael. Of Sally. Of humans that I wasn't _strong_ enough to see because of my thirst. Of humans I wasn't strong enough to keep away from. Of humans who had died at my hands. My stomach rolled and a wave of nausea seeped over me.

Jasper glanced at me but seemed preoccupied as Edward touched his shoulder, lightly. "You see what I mean?"

"It's not natural." _No, it's freaking __**not **__natural! _I knew I was behaving stupidly but I didn't care. I was behaving like I was a moody, hormonal teenager, which I _should have been. _What new hell was this? Were some people just gifted in controlling themselves? Was this _Bella_'s gift?

Oh, I would've killed for a gift like that. I would've killed to have the chance to be that strong, that fast.

"...She's only hours old!" Esme was saying, scolding her sons. "Oh, we should have gone with you."

I edged out of the way as Bella's eyes became focused once more on Renesmee. I needed to get away from here. I needed to..._think. _I cast a pleading glance at Edward who whispered something to Carlisle.

'Go Bree. If you need to.' My adopted father mouthed at me and I zipped away, up the stairs, wishing my heart would pound or my skin would itch or my body would bleed. I wished, more than anything at that moment, that I could be human.

All those lives. All those people. They were all needless. Maybe if I'd known, if I'd had some kind of warning before hand, if I'd been as knowledgeable about this life as Bella was, maybe I could've avoided all of it. I'd killed because I thought it was inevitable. Because I thought it was impossible to avoid.

But maybe there had been a way to avoid it all. Maybe it was only because I thought I had to. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

I lay on the soft white couch, staring at my **MISSING **poster, as was something I liked to do during the evenings. I concentrated a lot on my human memories, trying to keep them from fading. It was working, very slowly. If I focused and relived it over and over again, eventually, the details became so ingrained in my mind that my vampiric 'perfect recall' picked it up and held it.

I compared it a lot with converting old photos into digital ones or videos on to DVDs. It might take a while but it was worth it in the end.

I was trying not to let myself sink down into the tempting depths of my 'would-be' life like Rosalie had advised me but god it was hard. I paced around my room, struggling to let go of the unfair resentment I was building for Bella's abilities. My inner moody teenager was screaming. _How is that fair!? I want that! I don't want any of this!_

But I gagged her and steadied myself, preparing to make my way back downstairs when I heard Bella suddenly shriek: "You _stupid mutt! _How _could _you? _My baby!_"

The snap was coming.

I zipped downstairs and out the back patio, coming to a halt right behind Jacob as he eased his way across the yard, Bella stalking before him. Here it was- Bella was hunting Jacob, her anger getting the best of her. She was holding out remarkably however. "I've held her all of _one _time and already you think you have some moronic wolfy claim to her? She's _mine."_

"I can share!" Jacob was pleading and I winced. She knew about Renesmee's unexpected supernatural mate.

"How dare you _imprint _on _my _baby? Have you lost your mind?" Bella snarled, furiously. I edged my way to the side where two enormous wolves were closing in slowly, getting more and more tightly wound as Bella drew closer to their pack leader.

"It was involuntary!"

Leah snapped at her and I let out a low warning hiss. This was _so _not the time to antagonize Bella. "Bella, would you try to listen for just a second? Please? Leah _back off._" He ordered the grey wolf but she didn't move. I tensed, knowing that deep, deep, _deep _underneath her rage, Jacob was still Bella's friend and she would be upset if she hurt him.

"Why should I listen?" she hissed. I had to admit, she was holding out very well.

"Because you're the one who told me this. Do you remember? You said we belonged in each other's lives, right? That we were family. You said that was how you and I were supposed to be. So...now we are. It's what you wanted." I slapped my palm to my head, cringing for Jacob. _God, is he __**trying **__to get himself killed?_

"You think you'll be part of my family as my _son-in-law?!_" she screeched. Emmett laughed and I saw a small, unwilling smirk appear on Edward's face. I glared at him, Esme echoing my thoughts.

"Stop her, Edward," she murmured. "She'll be unhappy if she hurts him."

But no one moved.

"No! How can you even look at it that way? She's just a baby, for crying out loud!"

"That's my _point!" _Bella screeched.

"You know I don't think of her that way! Do you think Edward would have let me live this long if I did?" _No, but it's a miracle he let you near his daughter after he found out. _"All I want is for her to be safe and happy- is that so bad? So different from what you want?" _Jesus, he really __**does **__have a death wish._

I heard the conference of my family behind us all and the soft whine of Renesmee as she watched her mother and protector battle it out.

"You're going to stay away from her."

"I can't do that."

"_Try. _Starting _now_."

As they spoke, I got myself into position, knowing it wouldn't be long before she just struck out blindly. I saw Jasper twitch as he noted where I was and nodded, taking the other side, carefully slow so as not to antagonize Bella more with the threat of pursuit.

"Run away while you still can." Bella threatened.

"C'mon, Bells! Nessie likes me too!"

Bella went perfectly, beautifully, nerve-snappingly still. "_What_...did you call her?"

I exchanged a glance with Jasper. "Well," Jacob mumbled, stepping back a little bit. "That name you came up with is kind of mouthful and-"

"You nicknamed my daughter after the _Loch Ness Monster?_"

And then she lunged.

It was beautifully done- vampires were the perfect predator and Bella was a natural. She pounced like a great cat, flinging herself with more poise than any human could ever dream of.

There were few things that could've stopped her.

Among them was an old veteran vampire, an almost newborn vampire and, surprisingly, a young, stupid _reckless _werewolf.

As Bella leapt, the big sandy wolf- Seth- lunged forward and collided with her, snarling. Bella caught on to the shoulder bone of the enormous wolf and there was a harsh, terrifying _crack! _before I grabbed hold of Bella's right arm and pulled, using every ounce of my strength against her.

It worked, yanking Bella to the right and almost simultaneously, Jasper had her left arm and was yanking her that way as well, both of us pulling her away from Seth, who was lying, in pain and yowling, on the ground.

The grey wolf, his sister, Leah, growled, menacingly at Bella who almost hissed back before she realised what had happened and- just as Edward had said- _snapped out of it._

She ceased her thrashing in my and Jasper's arms and stared, horrified at Seth as he phased back into human form. "Oh my god-" she whispered, her eyes no longer wide, her voice no longer furious. All that was left was the Bella we'd first woken up to this morning, the Bella who had just been changed and didn't know her own strength well enough yet.

I exchanged a glance with Edward who was immediately at her side and he nodded, easing his arms around Bella's middle, whispering something her ear. He nodded at me and I let go of her arm and zipped back over to where Seth was growling swear words under his breath.

If I were human, I would've blushed but instead I just flitted inside to the lounge room and grabbed a pair of reeking denim shorts that Esme had decided to clean for the fifteen year old. I tried to avert my eyes as Carlisle yanked them on, knowing that Seth would probably be mortified in about an hour if he had to go through Carlisle's observation naked.

Rosalie smirked at me as she entered the house, following after Emmett who was hovering over Bella with Jasper in case she got mad again. She took Renesmee with her, not wanting her to see the blood that was pooling over the broken bones as they splintered through his dark skin.

I cringed but the blood smelled _anything _but appetizing and I tried not to let the smell get to me.

"_What the hell was that?_" the furious voice was Leah Clearwater screeched as she emerged from the nearby woods in a shirt and a pair of shorts, her hair messy and leaf ridden.

Seth groaned. "Perfect."

"Leah, calm down," Carlisle said, calmly himself. "Seth's maintained several fractures to his shoulder, two breaks and I need to treat him. If you can't restrain yourself, please leave for your brother's own safety."

Leah looked like she might just rip his eyeballs out at this point but conceded and merely hovered around, anxiously. "You stupid little brat," she muttered at him.

"What? You think I was going to let Bella just kill our alpha?" Seth panted. Jacob scowled at the youngest of his unwanted pack.

"Seriously Seth? Kid, I can take care of myself." He growled.

Seth raised an eyebrow despite his pain which was beginning to fade by the looks of it. "Really? Cause for a second there it looked like you were just going to let Bella _kill _you." He shot back as Carlisle mopped away the blood, revealing already healing skin around the broken ligaments. He winced.

"I'm going to have to-"

"Rebreak. Yeah. I know. Go on Doc, s'okay." Seth sighed, as if this happened all the time. Which, with the wolves rapid healing abilities, it probably did.

"I'm sorry Seth," I apologised, feeling guilt settle deep in my stomach. All in all, I liked Seth. He was nice and although he embraced his supernatural status rather than resented it, he was my age- he kind of understood what it was like never to be normal. "Jasper and I were going to get there before she lunged but..."

Seth managed a weak grin. "S'okay Bree. Bella's young, I get it." _Snap! _"Holy F-" he yelled but Leah swatted his good arm, scowling.

"If I send you back to mom with a mouth like that, she'll thrash me." She told him in a threatening tone. I hid a smile but she saw it and immediately went on the defensive. "What's so funny leech?" Leah snapped at me.

I didn't rise to the bait, however tempting it would've been to simply bare my teeth at her and scare her senseless. My eyes were relatively dark and I knew it would've been a sight to see. "Nothing. You two just remind me of my own brother." I murmured.

Leah's eyes looked a touch confused but she remained silent as Carlisle tested the other spots down his shoulder. "Your brother huh? What was he like?" Seth asked, panting as Carlisle snapped another bone down his arm. The damage was pretty good- Bella had done a number on him.

I recognised the past tense but I held strong. What did they think? I'd murdered him or something? "He _is _a complete idiot. Sarcastic, reckless, stupid, irritating, over protective." I laughed but sobered as I held Carlisle's equipment. I knew everyone else had to be inside with Bella at the moment, protecting Renesmee and comforting her mother so it was just Esme and I outside with Carlisle.

"But he's my brother." I added, shrugging. "What can you expect?"

My talking had distracted Seth enough that Carlisle managed to fix the bones in place well enough to wrap it gauze in the time it took. "Come inside and let me fix it up in a brace. With your healing, I'd say it'd only take an hour but I need to be sure the bones set properly."

I hung back as Carlisle and Esme helped Seth into the lounge room where he was instantly met with an onslaught of apologies and regrets. Jacob sighed. "What am I gonna do with that kid?" he muttered to himself, walking out to the front porch where Rosalie was holding Nessie. She smiled when she saw Jacob unhurt.

I sat down on the back steps, unaware of Leah's lingering presence until she stood before me, her eyes narrowed. "You have a brother?" she accused. I frowned but nodded, slowly. "How? I thought you newborns go crazy at human blood."

I shrugged, cutting my eyes to the sun as it hung lower and lower in the sky. "We do. The Mistress- I mean, Victoria," the old habit made the unfamiliar name stumble on my tongue. It sounded weird to call her by something other than Mistress. It felt like I was breaking a rule. "Changed me and Riley explained to me what I was. I knew I couldn't go back to my family then. I knew I wouldn't be able to stop myself from trying to kill them."

"So what? You fake your death or something?" Leah probed, her tone snappy and bitchy but laced with a faint curiosity. A ghost of a smile crossed my face.

"No." Slowly, I pulled out the **MISSING **flyer from my pocket where I'd shoved it before. I showed it to her, a faint sense of possessiveness streaking through me. I didn't show this to many people.

"They looked for me. They've probably given up, think I'm dead. When I was changed, a hundred of these things were put up around Seattle. I have a family there who thought I was still alive. Maybe they still do. God knows Jack probably hasn't accepted defeat yet." I explained, not really knowing why I did.

Leah's eyes shot to meet mine. "Jack's your brother?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It didn't matter before but now...maybe one day I'll be able to go back and just see them. I don't have to talk. Just need to see they're okay, in good hands."

She passed me back the flyer, slowly. Leah nodded and suddenly, reluctantly, she added "I do that sometimes. My house is near the treaty line. Sometimes I just go and make sure my mom's okay."

I snorted. "Messed up isn't it? Having to spy on your own family?"

Casting a glance inside as Seth hissed out a particularly long cuss word that had Jacob covering Nessie's ears as she giggled, the werewolf laughed, bitterly. "You have no idea."

Alice suddenly sprinted down the porch steps, Esme and Emmett following as a blur. She paused, close to the edge of the trees and inclined her head. "We're going hunting. C'mon Bree, Em says he wants to race you again!"

I laughed, brushing off the crusted blood from Carlisle's medical swabs off my hands. "He says that every time. I'm smaller. I'm always going to win." I called to her. She shrugged but disappeared with a grin and I turned to say goodbye to Leah only to find she wasn't there.

But she was running, I could faintly hear her, racing in the direction of La Push, ready to complete her rounds. I wondered if she was going to make a pit stop at her old house. And then I wondered if one day, maybe, that could ever be me.

* * *

**A/N: Errant Imagination: are you thinking what I'm thinking?**

**Me: What?**

**Errant Imagination: LEAH-BREE friendship for the sequel!**

**Me: You mean that sequel I barely have straight in my head, where I can't figure out if Renesmee should be old or young or whether Bree's love interest (because to be sure, there WILL BE a love interest) is Alistair or an OC or even Diego?**

**Errant Imagination: That's the one!**

**Me: *sigh***

**What do you think? Leah's kind of a bitch but I love her. Any opinions on my other questions? Any sort of input would be wonderful before my Errant Imagination takes over and drives my would-be sequel into a brick wall of plot holes and characters-that-don't-make-sense.**

**Much love,**

**Shy.**


End file.
